Television - Radio - Audio
Comedy - Drama - Entertainment
Development - Production - Consultancy
about
NORTH BRIDGE spans the gap between creative consultancy and production company, 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 scripted comedy, comedy drama and entertainment, NORTH BRIDGE creates, develops and produces scripted and unscripted television, radio, and other video and audio content, bridging genres and bringing talented people together.
Based in Edinburgh but with strong links to the UK Nations and Regions, London, and beyond, whether you're looking to create, develop, pitch or make a project, NORTH BRIDGE can help you build a way forward.
what we do
We can partner with you at any stage of a project's journey. Ideas development, script consultation, strategic positioning, pitching, piloting, series 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.
We specialise in development and production in scripted television, especially comedy and comedy drama, but we also work in radio and audio and unscripted.
We have excellent professional and personal contacts with creatives, crew and commissioners across the industry , and can help putting together credible packages to move your project on.
who
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 twenty-eight Fringes he's attended since, he has seen literally thousands of shows as a Fringe-fan, talent-spotter, producer and commissioner.
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.
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.
where
Edinburgh. The undisputed capital city and crucible of UK comedy, and the place where some of the greatest stories ever told have begun.
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. The original Red Wedding was a murderous Black Dinner at Edinburgh Castle, and King's Landing is in Leith. 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.
The city inspires creativity, and always has done. Even the historic North Bridge itself was a muse for the world's worst poet, William McGonagall, who wrote of -
...the laying of the foundation stone
Of the new North Bridge of beautiful Edinburgh,
Which was laid without anyone coming to sorrow.
There's 13 more verses of that. And while McGonagall can't celebrate this new NORTH BRIDGE, it is, like its namesake, a new way to build connections from the UK's comedy capital and literary wellspring to the rest of the world.
