The Bob & Co group is made up of TV, film and theatre production companies, operating across the UK and internationally, partnered with an FCA regulated media investment fund.
The group combines creativity with financial expertise to develop and produce scripted, unscripted, television, film, digital and theatre content. The group was set up by Bob Benton as a bridge to connect creativity with finance. Having enjoyed a 30 year career in broking and investment banking, Bob transferred his expertise to the development and production of media content. Hilary Strong joined the group as Chief Executive Officer in 2017.
Duchess Street Productions specialises in producing original drama and adaptations with commercial potential, working with top and emerging talent to produce high-quality dramas. Its projects are creatively driven and benefit from longstanding industry relationships and international drama connections and experience. Primarily working in the English language, Duchess Street is not afraid to push international boundaries to give its projects commercial and global scope.
Donna has worked in TV for over 25 years. She joined Duchess Street Productions from FremantleMedia, where she was Head of Worldwide Drama overseeing drama development and production in 22 territories. Prior to this Donna ran Cliffhanger Productions – an independent TV drama company developing over 30 international projects in collaboration with BBC Worldwide. Donna has also held the position of Head of Drama Production at both Endemol and Talkback Thames, where she spent five years overseeing over 200 hours of TV per annum with a budget in excess of £60 million. She started her career working in theatre, both in the UK and internationally, most notably as company manager for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Jo joined Duchess Street Productions from Sky Drama in January 2015, where she was a Script Executive for Left Bank Pictures, Mammoth Screen and Eleven Film dramas. A former Drama Development Producer for Detectorists indie Lola Entertainment, she has previously worked across the Channel 4 new-talent initiative Coming Up and on a number of UK drama series including Spooks, Holby City and The Bill.
SUMS Film & Media is a film production company focusing on narrative driven films for digital platforms, traditional features for theatrical release, and the integration of the two.
Started in 2012 by producer Andy Brunskill and exec-producer/financier Bob Benton, its aim was to use traditional film development techniques and relationships to generate high-end narrative driven content across a range of platforms with a special focus on the next generation of filmmaking talent.
THE CALL UP – Video game style sci-fi feature film directed by Charles Barker, financed by Creative England, Altitude and E1. Currently in post-production.
SUMS recently partnered with Bob & Co and Film London to finance and Executive Produce the first ever Microwave International which will be a Co-Production with Cinestaan, India.
With offices in London and Hampshire (UK), Woodcut Media specialises in the production of documentaries, specialist factual and factual entertainment, as well as lifestyle programming, providing innovative and entertaining programmes for UK and international broadcasters.
Former ITV producer Kate entered the TV industry at just 15 years old and has amassed a programming expertise spanning 21 years. Back in 2005, Kate founded KMB Productions Ltd and within three years a major independent, Talent Group PLC, approached Kate to buy her company, which became Talent TV South. There Kate went from strength to strength, producing hit shows for broadcasters such as Tina Malone: Pregnant at 50 for TLC UK (the highest-rated single doc commission for the channel to date), By Royal Appointment and Vicar’s Wives for ITV, the Flying Winemakers for UK TV and Fred Dinenage: Murder Casebook a long-running, and very popular series for the Crime and Investigation Network.
Derren joined Woodcut Media from London Live where as commissioner he oversaw a dozen documentaries for London Live working with the industry’s brightest new directing talent. He was also responsible for creating, commissioning and acquiring shows for Raw, an experimental late-night zone which gave TV debuts to a host of You Tube stars.
As Head of Programming & Scheduling at BBC Worldwide’s Global iPlayer, he helped launched in 16 territories and in a distinguished decade at the BBC he worked as a digital executive producer on the award-winning documentary series Our War for BBC Three, was Panorama’s first Multiplatform Editor and as a development producer helped to secure a raft of commissions for BBC Three Current Affairs.
