JANUARY’S SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: TOM GUTTERIDGE
CEO, Fremantle Media North America, Inc.
(American Idol, Swan, The Price is Right . . . - see credits below)

“As Chief Executive Officer of FremantleMedia North America, Inc. (FMNA), Tom Gutteridge oversees one of the largest independent production companies in the U.S.”

FremantleMedia is one of the largest international creators and producers of programme brands in the world, with leading prime time drama, serial drama, entertainment and factual entertainment programming in around 40 territories, including Europe, the U.S., Australia, Latin America, and Asia.

Producing a wide range of drama, entertainment and factual entertainment programming, FremantleMedia also has particular expertise in developing and acquiring new formats worldwide for production in local territories. FremantleMedia currently delivers over 9000 hours of original programming to broadcasters around the world.

FremantleMedia has production offices in over 20 countries worldwide, providing local sales and production support for its international TV brands such as Idols and the world’s longest running game show, The Price is Right. For more information on Fremantle Media, visit www.fremantlemedia.com.

As Chief Executive Officer of FremantleMedia North America, Inc. (FMNA), Tom Gutteridge oversees one of the largest independent production companies in the U.S. The company’s production slate includes the hit series “American Idol,” “How Clean Is Your House?,” “The Price Is Right,” “The Swan” and the syndicated game show “Family Feud.”

Before joining FMNA in February 2004, Gutteridge served as Group Creative Director for The Television Corporation plc, one the largest independent television production companies in the United Kingdom which includes the successful entertainment production company, Mentorn. In this role, he led a highly successful expansion of the group’s production activities into North America and served as Executive Producer on Mentorn’s 30-part reality series “Paradise Hotel” for Fox and “America’s Worst Driver” for NBC.

Prior to his work with The Television Corporation, Gutteridge founded Mentorn in 1985. The company became the largest privately owned independent production company in the UK and one of the most widely respected names in television. As Chairman and CEO, Gutteridge oversaw the production of thousands of hours of programs for British television and Mentorn became best known for its groundbreaking shows including “01-for London,” “Challenge Anneka” (one of the world’s first reality entertainment series) and the worldwide cult hit “Robot Wars.” Mentorn was acquired by The Television Corporation in 2000.

Gutteridge began his career as a news trainee at the BBC and worked his way up to become a producer and director of news, arts and entertainment programming. Among his notable productions are the BAFTA-nominated “The Hot Shoe Show,” the comedy series “A Kick Up The Eighties,” the BBC drama “The Bullion Boys” which won an International Emmy and the documentary “I Drew Roger Rabbit,” which was nominated for an International Emmy.

In 1996 Gutteridge was honoured with the Fellowship of the Royal Television Society (RTS) and invited to present the 50th annual RTS Fleming Lecture. He has also been Deputy Chairman of the RTS, Chairman of the Producer’s Alliance for Cinema and Television and was a Council Member of the British Screen Advisory Council. He was a Trustee of the National Film and Television School Foundation and remains a Life Member of BAFTA.