Remy Blumenfeld

Remy Blumenfeld (born, Paris, France) is a British Television executive and content creator who founded the TV production-company, Thinking Violets (http://thinkingviolets.com/) in 2013 and co-founded the production company Brighter Pictures which he sold to Endemol in 2004. In 2008 he launched the Formats division of ITV Studios, the production arm of Britain's largest commercial TV station and exported shows such as Come Dine With Me, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Four Weddings around the world.[1] Remy Blumenfeld has created more than 50 television formats, many of which, such as There's Something About Miriam and Gay, Straight or Taken? have been exported around the world. The Independent newspaper has ranked him as one of the top 20 most influential gay men or women in the UK.[2] In September 2010 he was by his named by his peers as one of the world's top 5 format creators[3] In March 2012 Remy Blumenfeld was named as one of the world's Greatest Reality Show Villains.[4]

Biography

Remy Blumenfeld is the grandson of the photographer, Erwin Blumenfeld who is credited with having taken more covers of Vogue Magazine than any other photographer. He is the son of the Sculptor, Helaine Blumenfeld and the writer, Yorick Blumenfeld. The Sunday Times Magazine wrote of the relationship between Remy and his mother, Helaine, in Relative Values[5] "I've learnt a lot from my mother and father about what is really of value in life - it's about who you love and who loves you. And I think they've learnt from me that life isn't all about what you leave behind." In 2001, Remy Blumenfeld was the driving force, together with Producer Anne Mensah, of TVYP at work, a scheme which sponsored 15 youngsters each year to find paid placements with some of the UK's most prestigious TV companies. The scheme ran successfully as part of the Edinburgh TV Festival.[6]

He went to Bedales School in Hampshire and attended the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

Career

Blumenfeld joined WPIX-TV in New York as a news intern and was soon promoted to reporter, covering celebrity and lifestyle features in Remy's People and The Remy Report. He was awarded the New York Daily News award for outstanding foreign-born journalist and the Pan Arts award for coverage of the arts. He later moved to WWOR-TV before returning to the UK where he presented 31 West, a daily magazine show on BSB.

In 1991, Blumenfeld co-founded Brighter Pictures with Gavin Hay in a bedroom of their house in Brixton. He created many programmes for British TV including There's Something About Miriam, in which 6 men date "the woman of their dreams" who turns out to be a trans-sexual.

In 2004, the sale of Brighter Pictures to Endemol completed and Remy remained as creative director at Endemol UK for Brighter Pictures and sat on the Global Creative Board of Endemol BV and on the Editorial Board of Endemol UK. In 2004 Brighter Pictures produced more than 300 hours of original programming.

At Brighter Pictures, Remy was responsible for creating more than 30 original formats, many of which have been sold around the world. These included, Flava (Channel 4) Bombay Blush (BBC2) Dynasty or Disaster (FOX) Get A New Life (BBC2) Tabloid Tales with Piers Morgan (BBC1) My Worst Week (BBC1) Wudja? Cudja? (ITV1) Love Match (ITV1) Undercover Lovers (TROUBLE) Cruel Summer (TROUBLE) and Gay, Straight or Taken? (Lifetime). From 2004 Brighter Pictures was also the division of Endemol UK that produced Big Brother.

After Brighter Pictures, Blumenfeld went to launch a global formats division at ITV Studios, the production division of ITV, the UK's largest commercial broadcaster. Here, he exported shows such as Come Dine With Me, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and Four Weddings around the world and launched production divisions in the France and Spain and sat on the board of ITV Studios.

In 2013, Remy Blumenfeld launched a new company, Thinking Violets [7] He is the producer, writer and executive-producer of many acclaimed British documentary films, such as The Dark Matter of Love, about the science of love[8] BBC4, 30 October 2013, The Other Francis Bacon, about a new cache of work by the British Painter, Channel 4, The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women[9] about his grandfather Erwin Blumenfeld for BBC4, 19 May 2013 and the UK Gold[10] about Britain's role as a tax haven. Remy has produced new plays at Edinburgh, including Eunuchs In My Wardrobe and Julie Burchill Is Away.

References

  1. ↑ "Hollywood Reporter" Hollywood Reporter 10/14/2010 by Mimi Turner
  2. ↑ "Independent on Sunday" Ben Summerskill in the Independent On Sunday, Gay Power the Pink List
  3. ↑ "Broadcast Magazine" Dealmakers, 1 October 2010
  4. ↑ "News.Com.Au" Switched On's List of the Greatest Reality Show Villains
  5. ↑ "Relative Values" Helaine Blumenfeld and her son Remy - Times Online 2 Nov 2008 Relative Values A Mother and Son Who Break The Mould by Caroline Scott
  6. ↑ "Scottish Screen", 27 July 2007.
  7. ↑ http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/indies/remy-blumenfeld-launches-indie/5054135.article/
  8. ↑ http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/dark-matter-of-love-film-review-1200664190/
  9. ↑ http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/tamsin-blanchard/TMG10062375/The-extraordinary-story-of-Erwin-Blumenfeld.html
  10. ↑ http://www.theukgold.co.uk/

External links


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