Emmy, BAFTA and Golden Globe winning production company Playground (All Creatures Great & Small, The Undeclared War) is upping Scott Huff and David Stern to joint Managing Directors, handling the day-to-day management of the UK and US operations of the company and its flourishing slate of returning series. Founder and Executive Chairman Colin Callender will continue to focus on the company’s corporate strategy, co-production partnerships, and key talent relationships while overseeing certain current productions such as All Creatures Great and Small currently shooting its fourth season.
Callender said: “In Scott and David, we have very strong, creatively dynamic and commercially innovative leadership across our growing slate of projects. Scott was a day one employee of the company and has been an integral part of its success to date, while David was a valued colleague and collaborator for many years before joining us formally in 2019. As a partnership, they are a formidable team capable of harnessing and accelerating the growth of the business in the ever-changing global marketplace. I look forward to entering the next chapter of Playground together.”
Upcoming Playground Entertainment projects include an adaptation of crypto page-turner “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” by Laura Shin, and “Wicked Girls”, adapted from Alex Marwood’s international bestseller by Emmy and DGA Award-winning filmmaker Richard Shepard (“Girls”, “Dom Hemingway”, “The Perfection”), who will also direct.
Scott Huff has been at Playground since its inception overseeing its BAFTA and Golden Globe winning slate of television projects in the US and UK, as well as its international co-productions. He was responsible for the development and production of numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful television series as Executive Producer, including the Golden Globe winning drama “Wolf Hall”, the BBC/Starz crime series “The Missing”, “The White Queen”, starring Rebecca Ferguson, “The White Princess”, starring Jodi Comer and Catherine of Aragon biopic series “The Spanish Princess”, “Howards End”, starring Matthew MacFadyen, and “King Lear”, starring Anthony Hopkins for Amazon for which Huff received an Emmy nomination. Throughout his career, Scott has been known for identifying and nurturing unique stories, and his strong commitment to fostering and supporting creative talent.
David Stern joined Playground in 2019 as Senior Vice President of Development & Production. Prior to joining Playground, he was an independent producer with credits including thriller series “Departure”, currently in its third season starring Archie Panjabi and Christopher Plummer for Corus/ Peacock; International Emmy Award winning Netflix drama “Delhi Crime”; BAFTA award nominated adaptation of “Howards End” for BBC/Starz; “The Last Tycoon”, starring Kelsey Grammer for Amazon Prime; and “Rosemary’s Baby”, starring Zoe Saldana, for NBC. Stern was previously a Talent Manager at Kipperman Management, where he managed the careers of award-winning actors in both the US and UK. He also served as Co-Head of Scripted Programming for Raze, co-founded by Sofia Vergara, where he devised and implemented its international scripted content strategy.
