Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta, who have spearheaded See-Saw Films’ TV productions for the past eight years, are stepping down to launch their own outfit, 60Forty Films.
Laurenson joined See-Saw in 2012, from BBC Films, to head its newly-formed television department and Kousetta was appointed chief operating officer in 2014, to co-run the division.
During their tenure, the duo oversaw several series out of the company’s UK and Australian offices including Jane Campion’s Top Of The Lake: China Girl, the short-form comedy series State Of The Union; and Rachel Gardner’s Australian slate comprising two seasons of live-action family adventure series The New Legends of Monkey for Netflix and The End for Sky Atlantic and Foxtel.
Laurenson and Kousetta will continue as executive producers on See-Saw projects The North Water, written and directed by Andrew Haigh; Slow Horses starring Gary Oldman, which is in production for Apple TV+; Clio Barnard’s The Essex Serpent, starring Claire Danes and also produced for Apple TV+; and the second season of State Of The Union for AMC; as well as the recently announced Heartstopper for Netflix.
In a statement, the duo said: “We are excited to start this new venture and are really happy to be continuing our collaboration with See-Saw on the projects we are exec producing.”
Saw-Saw joint managing directors Iain Canning and Emile Sherman said the company had “a robust and impressive slate” of titles coming in 2021, “in no small part because of the hard work of Hakan and Jamie”.
“We will miss them but are so excited to see what they do next, and thankfully it’s not goodbye as we’ll be continuing to collaborate on select See-Saw projects,” they added.
See-Saw’s TV and film slate will continue to be driven by Elinor Day, Patrick Walters and Joanna Laurie in the UK, and Rachel Gardner in the company’s Sydney office.
The company’s upcoming releases also include John Madden’s Operation Mincemeat, starring Colin Firth; Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog, starring Benedict Cumberbatch; Thomas M Wright’s The Unknown Man; and Aisling Walsh’s One Life, starring Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn.
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