- Jasmin Joseph reunites with Heaney and Subhani as marketing manager

- First BossaNova Development Day attracts 50 buyers and 50 projects

London, January 13th 2021

BossaNova, Paul Heaney and Dina Subhani’s new content creation, funding and distribution company, has announced its first hire, along with its launch slate and the details of its inaugural Development Day pitching event, which has already attracted 50 buyers and commissioners from 35 channels and platforms.

Jasmin Joseph joins the new company as marketing manager – the first full-time appointment to be announced by BossaNova which launched in late 2020. Joseph worked with Heaney and Subhani at TCB Media Rights, where she was first employed as an apprentice in 2016. TCB then sponsored Joseph to attend the factual-development and production course at the National and Film Television School, from which she graduated in 2018. She went on to become TCB Media Rights’ marketing and materials executive playing a key role in the company’s rapid growth from boutique operation to one of the UK’s most successful independent distributors. At BossaNova, Joseph will manage the marketing and advertising of the company’s brand and catalogue, including social media, creating and producing promos and showreels, title graphics and inhouse banners/flyers.

Dina Subhani said: “We are very lucky to have Jas join us at BossaNova as her work ethic is second to none. We all know that, however brilliant your shows, creative, deft marketing is crucial to cutting through the noise. Now, with Jas’ help, we’re ready to start spreading the word.”

Jasmin Joseph added: “I appreciated the opportunities that I was given at TCB Media Rights and I’m excited to be working with Paul and Dina again on the launch of BossaNova. I love the variety of the work that I do and that no day is the same.”

BossaNova’s first slate of programming consists of five series and two 90-minute specials. The roster includes the first three series (30 x 60)of Stampede Productions’ Borderforce USA, which follows the work of US Customs and Border Protection officers as they attempt to stop terrorists, drug smugglers and arms traffickers from crossing the world’s busiest border between the US and Mexico. BossaNova has deficit financed the third series (10 x 60) which is currently in production and will air later in the year on UKTV.

Also on offer are the first two seasons (14 x 30) of TheCar Years, with the second series again deficit financed by BossaNova and broadcasted in the UK by ITV4. Produced by indie Wiser Films and hosted by motoring broadcasters Vicki Butler Henderson and Alex Riley who are on a mission to champion the very best cars from a moment in time, with an expert panel judges picking a winner.

On the documentary feature front, Cruising: The Biggest Storm (1x90) from Australia’s CJZ examines the biggest crises in the cruise industry’s history.

American 965 (1 x 96) from Fact Not Fiction Films charts the story of American Airlines flight 965, one of the US’s deadliest air disasters which crashed into a mountainside on approach to Cali airport in 1995. The film asks why did the investigators choose not to consider key evidence of a design flaw they knew could and had previously impaired pilots? Pressure from the aerospace industry on the investigators, or simple incompetence? Audiences will decide.

BossaNova is also launching its own Development Day – a pitching concept that Heaney successfully pioneered at TCB Media Rights to bring together buyers and sellers, and fast-track the creation of stand-out factual projects. The first BossaNova Development Day will take place on January 21 and will use the latest technology to connect 50 buyers with 20 producers, who will pitch some 50 new projects.

The event offers indies an intimate platform from which to launch their ideas to key buyers, with a view of securing the pre-sales needed to fund those projects, while giving buyers early access to fresh, original ideas from some of the best factual producers in the business. The Development Day also addresses BossaNova’s launch pledge to leverage its global network of buyer relationships, built up over 35 years in the media and distribution industries to create opportunities for ambitious producers looking to grow their businesses.

Heaney said: ‘This is the recreation and progression of the hub and community we so successfully created at TCB. We must have stumbled onto something special as the numbers of attendees this year is huge and the quality of projects is very high.’