Sky Studios elevates leadership at US-based group, Jupiter Holdings

Sky Studios has today announced the promotion of two senior US executives, Stephen Land and Patrick Reardon, in a move that will help turbocharge the Studios’ creative and commercial ambitions in the US.

Veteran producer and Founder and CEO of Jupiter Entertainment, Stephen Land has been named Chairman of Jupiter Holdings – a Sky Studios-owned group of US production outfits, including New York based Jupiter Entertainment, Los Angeles based Catalina Content as well as Tennessee based production services group, The Hive. Together, the operation has 15 series and specials representing over 225 hours of programming already committed to production for 2021.

Land is also named Senior Adviser, Sky Studios, working closely with the studios’ leadership team to spearhead partnerships and identify strategic growth initiatives across Sky Studios’ production portfolio as well as sourcing premium documentary content within the US for the studio.

Since founding Jupiter 25 years ago, Land has led the company into successfully blending highly rated reality series, gripping documentaries and long running true crime franchises into a hugely efficient operation delivering almost 250 hours of content annually.  Today, Jupiter stands among the world’s largest producers of true crime with long running series such as Snapped (Oxygen), Joe Kenda: Homicide Hunter (Investigation Discovery), the record-breaking American Murder Mystery strand (Investigation Discovery) and Fatal Attraction (TVOne).

In 2015, Land announced the sale of Jupiter to Sky, becoming the media company’s largest US based production hub.  Since the transaction, Jupiter has doubled in size. 

Alongside this, current Jupiter Entertainment President Patrick Reardon has been elevated to President of Jupiter Holdings. In his new role, Reardon will be responsible for overseeing all facets of Jupiter Entertainment, Catalina Content and The Hive.

Since joining the company, Reardon has overseen their industry leading true crime slate as well as diversifying the company into new genres including the lifestyle format 10 Things You Don’t Know (E!), premium feature documentary Heval (Curiosity Stream), and brokering a production partnership with All Def to adapt the company’s vast ancillary library of content, intellectual property and social media channels into long-form entertainment.

Prior to joining Jupiter, Reardon served as head of the film and television division for Roc Nation where he produced the Amazon documentary series #FreeMeek, and served as Co-Head of Television for The Weinstein Company, where he oversaw its flagship Project Runway franchise, produced the Peabody Award winning Time: The Kalief Browder Story and documentary series Rest in Power.  

Caroline Cooper, Chief Operating Officer, Sky Studios, said: “Stephen is a true industry veteran, having created countless hit factual series over the years and built a strong and creative leadership team at Jupiter Entertainment. There is no-one better placed to lead the future ambition of Sky Studios’ factual slate and production capability in the US. We’re confident that under Patrick’s leadership, all of the teams at Jupiter Entertainment, Catalina Content and The Hive will continue to thrive, and we are delighted to have him leading this next chapter of growth.”

Stephen Land, Chairman, Jupiter Holdings and Senior Adviser, Sky Studios, added: “Since joining a year ago and despite Covid, Patrick has had remarkable success expanding Jupiter’s business. He has demonstrated an incredible range of creativity and collaborative leadership. We’re confident his strategic thinking and keen eye for quality projects will lead all three of these unique companies to continued growth and expansion.”

Patrick Reardon, President, Jupiter Holdings, continued: “Thanks to Stephen’s leadership and the incredibly hard-working and talented team, Jupiter has become synonymous with delivering quality content. I'm excited to be a part of that continued legacy and believe that Jupiter, Catalina and The Hive are poised for further creative success in the years to come.”

For further information, please contact: Harrison Kelly: Harrison.Kelly@sky.uk / +44 (0) 7817476365.

About Sky Studios

Sky Studios brings to screen unique stories from the very best talent in Europe.

We develop, produce and fund original drama, comedy and documentary for Sky’s 24m customers and beyond. Building on the success of critically-acclaimed Sky Originals including Emmy-winning Chernobyl, Bafta-winning Patrick Melrose and international hits Das Boot, Riviera and Britannia, Sky Studios is the new creative home of Sky Originals, such as The Third Day with Jude Law, I Hate Suzie, co-created by Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper and BAFTA-nominated hit comedy, Brassic.

We’re an agile Studio, seeking out the best untold stories from new voices while working in creative partnership with today’s best writers, producers and on-screen talent to bring viewers stories they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

With commissioning talent and production capability across the UK, Germany and Italy, we understand local tastes across Europe better than anyone else and have plans to more than double our investment in original content by 2024, fully supported and backed by Comcast NBC Universal.

We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK creative sector in the first five years alone.

Sky Studios invests in the cultural economy and global production sector with equity stakes in several production companies in the UK and the US, including Great British Bake-Off creator Love Productions, and the premier reality crime producer in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, creator of long-running hit Snapped. Sky Studios has invested in high quality factual specialists Blast Films and True North Productions; entertainment and format expert Znak & Co (US & UK); natural history producer True to Nature; drama producers The Lighthouse and Longboat Pictures; and growth businesses Sugar Films, Chrysalis Vision, and Talos Films (US).

Sky Studios launched in June 2019. The senior leadership team is Chief Executive Officer Gary Davey, Chief Content Officer Jane Millichip, Chief Operating Officer Caroline Cooper, Director of Drama UK Cameron Roach, Director of Comedy UK Jon Mountague, Director Original Production Sky Italia Nils Hartmann, and Director Original Productions Sky Deutschland Marcus Ammon.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 24 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love - TV, music, games, online video, fitness and educational content, all in one place, easy. Our streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, I Hate Suzie and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, while Sky Arts, the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel, makes the arts accessible for everyone. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve put in place a new programme to invest £30million across our markets over the next three years to tackle racial injustice.