about
NORTH BRIDGE MEDIA creates, develops and produces for screen, stage, and sound, working with writers, creators, IP holders, agents, producers and platforms to nurture and deliver fresh ideas from spark to firework.
Building on decades of development, production and commissioning experience in comedy, drama and entertainment, NORTH BRIDGE MEDIA supports scripted and unscripted television, audio, and live production, bridging genres and mediums and bringing talented people together.
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Based in Edinburgh but with strong links to the UK Nations and Regions, London, and beyond, we also offer consultancy, so if you're looking to create, develop, pitch or make a project that you think might match what we do, get in touch!
what we do
We are producers. We can partner with you at any stage of a project's journey. Ideas development, script consultation, strategic positioning, pitching, piloting, development, production, compliance, delivery and more - decades of experience of every stage of the creative and production process means NORTH BRIDGE can take an overarching view of your project or get amongst the detail to advise, guide, or troubleshoot. ​
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We have excellent professional and personal contacts with creatives, crew and commissioners across the screen and stage industries, and can help putting together credible packages to move your project on.
who
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NORTH BRIDGE's founder and creative director, Jon Rolph, first appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe as a writer and performer at the age of 19. In the more than thirty Fringes he's attended since, he has seen literally thousands of shows as a Fringe fan, talent-spotter, producer and commissioner.
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Most recently the Managing Director of Fremantle UK’s Scripted Comedy labels, Hare and Tortoise and Retort, Jon led the development of and Executive Produced multiple award-winning and highly-rating scripted comedies and comedy dramas. Previously he served two tours of duty as an Executive Editor in BBC Comedy Commissioning, including a stint as Nations and Regions commissioner working with out-of-London Indies and talent.
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Within these roles, and as a freelance producer, executive producer, and occasional director and writer, Jon has been responsible for hundreds of hours of broadcast comedy, comedy drama and entertainment. He has worked with many of the most celebrated writers and performers of the last few decades, as well as developing new and emerging talent to air in the UK and beyond, with a particular focus on unheard voices.
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where
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Edinburgh. The undisputed capital city and legendary crucible of UK comedy, and the place where some of the greatest stories ever told have begun.
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Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll and Hyde, Long John Silver, a certain boy wizard... they all sprang from the smoke and stone of this old city perched on a volcanic crag. Even the names on the fronts of the buses seem to suggest they terminate at the great cities of Westeros... King's Road, Clovenstone, The Jewel. . Kenneth Grahame was born here, Agatha Christie married here.
And in recent decades, the creative talent behind some of the best of British drama and especially comedy has first flourished in the tiny, unexpected rooms of the Edinburgh Fringe. Millions of laughs conjured in less than a square mile. Our finest comedians, actors, writers, producers, and directors started their journeys in these blacked-out student bars and dripping vaults. They’ve spread out across the UK and the globe, conquering not just the comedy world but film and stage too.
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