London/Northern Ireland, 4 October 2018: Fizz, part of Banijay Group’s RDF, today announces it is striking a partnership with Belfast-based start-up Nice One Productions. The project, which received funding from Northern Ireland Screen, will see Fizz work with the comedy entertainment business to co-develop and co-produce a range of formats for local and national broadcasters.
The partnership recognises the increasing demand from the UK’s leading broadcasters for content born out of the nations and is in line with RDF’s overall commitment to expanding its operations outside of London. Fizz and Nice One have come together to target five original ideas initially, with all productions stemming from the partnership intended to be produced in Northern Ireland, utilising local talent and locations.
The new Northern Irish partnership has been spearheaded by Fizz’s Creative Director, Neale Simpson, and Nice One’s Founder and Creative Director, Chris Jones. Utilising Simpson’s established relationships in the commissioning space and track-record in entertainment, along with Jones’ own extensive production experience and local expertise, the collaboration aims to increase non-scripted activity emerging from the nation.
Nice One’s commissions to date have included Fright Shorts for BBC iPlayer and What Makes You Tic? for BBC Three. Chris Jones’ Devised By, Executive Producer and Producer/Director credits also include Ask Rhod Gilbert, Monumental with Adam Hills and Britain’s Favourite Childrens Books, with David Walliams.
A leader in the entertainment space, Fizz is behind Channel 4’s The Crystal Maze, E4’s soon-to-return Shipwrecked, and ITV’s daytime quiz juggernaut, Tipping Point.
The announcement follows RDF West’s recent partnership with Cardiff-based Wales&Co.
Neale Simpson comments: “We’re really excited to be collaborating with Chris and the Nice One team to develop and produce new ideas together. All of my attempts at a topical gag to end this quote have been vetoed by the rest of the team.”
Chris Jones comments: “Working with our talented friends in Fizz/Banijay is a big step forward for Nice One and gives us a real chance to create and produce funny, feel-good formats from Northern Ireland.’
About Fizz
RDF’s entertainment label Fizz was created in 2015 and has already had enjoyed major commissions with UKTV (Humble Pie), Discovery (Undressed) and most recently Channel 4 with the return of The Crystal Maze and Shipwrecked. The Fizz team also produce daytime quiz show Tipping Point for ITV, with a record 325 episodes commissioned in the summer
About Nice One Productions
Nice = New Irish Comedy Entertainment
Nice One Productions was founded by Executive Producer Chris Jones in 2016 to create, collaborate and produce funny formats and scripted comedy for the UK and International television markets, operating from a base in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
First commission is ‘What Makes You Tic?‘, a short-form talk-show Special for BBC Entertainment/BBC3 (co-produced with ‘Hindsight Productions’).
Nice One’s first scripted-comedy commission is ‘Fright Shorts’, 6 x 5” short-form comedy for BBC iPlayer to showcase new comedy writing from N.Ireland. These were co-produced with ‘Retort’ (part of Fremantle) with funding from BBC Comedy, BBC Writers Room and Ni Screen.
As a freelance Executive Producer, Development Executive and Producer/Director, Chris Jones successfully worked in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and Belfast with all the main UK and Irish broadcasters and maintains regular contact with a range of Commissioning Editors, On-Screen Talent, Agents, Writers and Independent Production Companies and Distributors.
Chris is a full voting member of BAFTA and serves on the RTS Northern Ireland Committee.