Journalists and producers with experience at some of the U.K.’s top outlets, including The Economist, The Times of London and the BBC have formed a new podcast and IP pipeline, Blanchard House.
The company has already secured $1 million seed investment and set up a partnership with “The Shrink Next Door” podcast journalist and presenter Joe Nocera. Nocera will host some of the shows Blanchard House are developing.
The team is made up of co-founder and CEO Kimberly Jung, co-founder and creative director Rosie Pye and founder and host Alex Wiltschko.
Pye previously worked at the BBC and The Economist while Wiltschko hosts Google Ventures’ podcast, Theory & Practice.
Joining them are Poppy Damon as senior narrative podcast producer (previously at The Times of London), Seren Jones as senior audio producer (formerly of the BBC’s “Beyond Today” podcast), presenter Becky Milligan (previously at the BBC), Philly Beaumont as senior narrative podcast producer (formerly of the BBC and London Times Radio) alongside Nocera.
Blanchard House have also hired Duncan Barber as managing producer, VP of rights – Barber is a senior producer at the Economist and was previously at BBC radio – and James Peake as head of rights, who will oversee the clear chain of rights to enable the podcasts to be turned into film and TV series. Peake has fifteen years’ experience in trade publishing and has worked for three of the “Big 5” publishers.
So far the company has six series in production across a variety of genres including true crime and family saga.
“What we are doing at Blanchard House is bold: we’ve taken the best talent in the U.K., set them upon a sea of untold or forgotten stories, and are now churning out cinematic narrative-style podcasts destined for the big screen, with our sights set on becoming a premier destination for original and exceptional IP,” says Kimberly Jung, founder and CEO of Blanchard House.
“As I’ve gotten to know the Blanchard House crew over the past six months, I’ve been really impressed,” says Nocera. “They know how to find compelling stories, and they know how to tell them. Writing and reporting ‘The Shrink Next Door’ was a memorable experience for me, and it’s been wonderful to see its trajectory from podcast to screen. I’m excited to do it again with another captivating story I’m cooking up with Blanchard House.”
