Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based Managing Director operating in the Digital Entertainment space. If you think a Managing Director is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
John Jakobsen
Managing Director of Merlin Entertainments
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About Merlin Entertainments: Merlin Entertainments is the largest European entertainments company operating in Europe.
Holly Bott
Managing Director, Entertainment of James Grant Group
Holly Bott is the Managing Director, Entertainment at YMU Group.
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About James Grant Group: James Grant Group provides services for entertainment, music, sports, social talent, and literary clients.
Gareth Neame
Managing Director of Carnival Films
Gareth Neame is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning Drama Producer and Executive, based in London. Neame is the Managing Director (CEO) of Carnival Films, the respected British production company which he sold to NBC Universal in 2008 as the cornerstone of their new international TV studios. Neame is one of the UK’s leading producers and is responsible for the global TV phenomenon, Downton Abbey and originally proposed the idea for the show to its writer Julian Fellowes. The show has won two Golden Globes, including Best Mini Series and 10 Primetime Emmy Awards, also including Best Mini Series. With a total of 39 nominations, it is the most nominated non-US show in the history of the Emmys and is one of the highest rated shows on US television. Among numerous national and international awards, the show even garnered a Guinness World Record for the highest critical review ratings for a TV show. Neame has also been recognised by The Producers Guild of America with the David L.Wolper award as outstanding producer of long-form television. Now sold to 250 territories worldwide, the fifth season will air on ITV in the autumn of 2014. Neame has also recently executive produced screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s History Plays in the mini-series The Hollow Crown, David Hare’s political thriller Page Eight, starring Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz, Dracula for NBC and Sky, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and David Nicholls’ mini-series The 7:39 for the BBC. Carnival also produced the British Academy Award winning Best Drama Serial Any Human Heart for C4, Blake Morrison’s The Last Weekend and the popular ITV crime series Whitechapel. Carnival’s prestigious output has resulted in the company winning The Broadcast Award in 2012 and The Bulldog award in 2011 for Best Production Company. Upcoming projects include Peter Morgan’s drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, directed by Roger Michell and two sequels to Page Eight, Turks and Caicos and Salting the Battlefield, once again in collaboration with David Hare for the BBC, together with the fifth season of Downton Abbey. With offices in London and Los Angeles, the company is the UK’s biggest drama specialist and over the last three decades has produced many popular shows such as Hotel Babylon, Poirot, Enid, Sea of Souls, Jeeves and Wooster, As If, Rosemary & Thyme and Traffik, as well as US content such as The Philanthropist for NBC and The Grid for TNT. Other productions Neame has been responsible for at Carnival include Whistleblowers, Midnight Man and The Old Curiosity Shop. Prior to joining the company, Neame had a successful career as Head of Drama at the BBC and was instrumental in the significant growth in independent production, responsible for the development and production of a range of innovative, award-winning and popular shows such as Spooks (MI5), Bodies, Outlaws, Hustle, New Tricks, Tipping the Velvet and Clocking Off. After graduating with a degree in English and Drama in 1988, Neame worked extensively in both production and development at the BBC and as an independent producer. Neame was the Executive Producer of the multi-award winning series State of Play and other producer credits include Truth or Dare (BAFTA winner, RTS nominated), All the King’s Men, The Woman in White (BAFTA nominated), The Missing Postman (British Comedy Award winner), Station Jim, Getting Hurt, The Wyvern Mystery, Lorna Doone, Happy Birthday Shakespeare, Cambridge Spies, Take a Girl Like You, Twenty Thousand Streets under the sky (nominated for South Bank Show award), Paranoid and Peter Kosminsky’s multi award winning Warriors. Neame served on The Council of The British Academy of Film and Television Arts from 2004-06 and has spoken about the contribution of IP to the UK economy and on issues of IP piracy to the IP Alliance at The House of Commons. Gareth Neame represents the fourth generation of a remarkable dynasty that has made a significant contribution to the world of cinema and television over the past century. His great-grandparents were the society photographer and pioneer filmmaker Elwin Neame (1885-1923) and the film actress Ivy Close (1890-1968) described by The Daily Mirror as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’. His grandfather was the celebrated director, producer, cinematographer and writer Ronald Neame CBE (1911-2010), his great-uncle was the author and screenwriter Derek Neame (1915-1979) and his father was the producer and writer Christopher Elwin Neame (1942-2011).
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About Carnival Films: Carnival Films is a British television production company based in London, UK.
Giovanni Dolci
Vice President, Theatre Development and Managing Director, Europe and Africa of IMAX
Giovanni Dolci joined IMAX Corporation in October 2012 as Vice President, Theatre Development. In January 2017 he was also appointed Managing Director Europe and Africa, where he is responsible for growing and expanding the IMAX theatre network across the two continents. He previously served as Director of Business Development and Commercial Operations at Arts Alliance, where he was in charge of negotiations with cinema exhibitors and film distributors throughout EMEA to support the market’s transition to digital projection technology and where he helped establish a worldwide digital distribution platform. Prior to Arts Alliance, Giovanni Dolci worked in film financing and oversaw a number of projects based in New Zealand, Italy and the UK. He has a degree in Economics and Management from Bocconi University in Milan and an MSc in Management from Cass Business School in London. He is a Junior Fellow of the Aspen Institute Italy.
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About IMAX: IMAX Corporation is one of the world’s leading entertainment technology companies, specializing in immersive motion picture technologies.
Dane Streeter
Managing Director of SharpStream
Dane Streeter is co-founder and Managing Director of SharpStream, one of the worlds leading audio streaming service and technology companies. For over a decade, Dane has provided media enterprises with service for the largest, era-defining audio streaming technologies and is responsible for the delivery of over 15 billion annual hours of digital audio content to over 35 million individuals throughout the world. Dane’s passion for audio streaming came in 2004, at the age of 16, listening to early internet broadcasts of live gigs from popular locations such as Ministry of Sound London, and A State of Trance in Holland.
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About SharpStream: SharpStream is the leading streaming platform for smart streamers…
Mark Mulligan
Managing Director and Analyst of MIDiA Research
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About MIDiA Research: MIDiA Research is a media and technology analysis company that offers consulting and syndicated research services.
Matt Warren
Managing Director of Warble Entertainment Agency
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About : Warble Entertainment is a UK based live entertainment booking service for weddings and events.
Tracey Warren
Managing Director of Warble Entertainment Agency
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About : Warble Entertainment is a UK based live entertainment booking service for weddings and events.
