Merman–the production company founded and run by Sharon Horgan (the Emmy-nominated creator of the Amazon series Catastrophe) and partner/producer Clelia Mountford–has launched Mermade, a digital arm which will specialize in the creation of non-broadcast content of all shapes and sizes, funded by and for social and streaming platforms, brands and publishers, with a particular focus on short-form episodic.
“Mermade gives creators control over their output, fostering new and original voices with subject matter that is not bound to convention,” explained Horgan. “The digital space allows us to create a format that fits the idea, instead of creating an idea to fit the format. The idea comes first. It’s about working with diverse creators and blurring the lines between TV, film and branded entertainment.”
The development of Mermade follows the 2017 expansion of the London-based Merman into L.A. and New York, and the launch of its branded entertainment and advertising division in both the U.S. and U.K. Merman global managing partners Jeremy Rainbird in London and Kira Carstensen in Los Angeles will run Mermade, alongside Horgan and Mountford.
“Mermade is very much an extension of Merman,” commented Carstensen. “We make scripted and non-scripted premium short form episodic entertainment, brand-funded and beyond, for audiences who consume their content online and who are attracted to the truthful and irreverent shows they have come to expect from the Merman brand.”
The board of Mermade in the U.S. and U.K. is bolstered by the addition of non-executive directors Rene Rechtman and Dan’l Hewitt, both formerly of Maker Studios/Disney.
In the U.K., former Channel 4 and All4 commissioning editor Joshua Buckingham has joined as U.K. managing director.
“We are already working with an electric mix of writers, performers and directors and with them we want to embrace the way audiences actually consume content and innovate storytelling accordingly.” noted Buckingham.
The development director USA is Melanie Donkers, who joins the Mermade USA team from Pulse Films and Fullscreen where she was in digital development.
In addition to the lauded Catastrophe in which she co-writes and co-stars with co-creator Rob Delaney, Horgan is creator and EP of Divorce (HBO) and co-creator of Motherland (BBC Two, Sundance). Earlier this year Amazon Studios entered into a two-year overall deal with Horgan. Merman also signed a first-look deal with Amazon. Per this arrangement, Amazon Studios gets first-look rights to Merman concepts to which Horgan is attached and remake rights to Merman-produced television series.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More