James Burstall
James Burstall is a British film and television producer and Chief Executive Officer of international group Argonon which he founded in 2011. Argonon has many companies within the group located in London, Los Angeles, New York City, Liverpool and Glasgow. Burstall’s broadcast career credits span a number of genres and international territories, and range from reality series Mormon Love on Facebook Watch, TV shows "Cash in the Attic" and "House Hunters International" to feature-length drama "An Englishman In New York". Argonon, through a number of acquisitions and joint ventures, produces entertainment shows such as "The Masked  Singer" (ITV), dramas such as "Worzel Gummidge" (BBC One) and documentaries such as "Dispatches" (Channel 4) and "Mysteries of the Abandoned" (Discovery Science). Education. Burstall studied modern languages at the University of Bristol, studied leadership at the Said Business School, University of Oxford (2011) and Leading Changing at the Graduate School of Business, University of Stanford, California (2013). Career. Prior to his television career, Burstall was a journalist, working as a writer and editor in Paris, London and New York for Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Evening Standard. Burstall was CEO at Leopard Films which he founded in  2001. Before Leopard Films, Burstall worked as an executive producer and producer-director for broadcasters all over the world. Notable projects include "Secret History of Hacking" (Channel 4/TLC); "Cutting Edge" (Channel 4); and ITV’s weekly investigative series "The Big Story". He also was a founding producer for London’s Planet 24 ("The Big Breakfast" for Channel 4), and was an on-screen reporter and producer for the BBC. He then created Leopard USA, a New-York based production company in 2003, then Leopard Drama and Leopard International, a distribution and rights business, in 2004. Burstall was a finalist  in the "2009 IoD London and the South East Director of the Year Awards" for 'Institute of Directors of the Year over 5m. Burstall created Argonon in 2011, bringing together Leopard Films, Leopard Drama and Leopard USA; re-naming Leopard International as Argonon International and acquiring Remedy Productions, specialists in entertainment, music and live events. In 2012, Burstall confirmed the launch of Remedy Canada, with significant investment from Argonon, followed by the acquisition of Transparent TV, producers of lifestyle and documentary programming in the UK, in 2013. He next launched Argonon’s first joint venture BriteSpark Films in 2013  bringing documentarian Nick Godwin into the group and he made further acquisitions including the multi-award winning Windfall Films. He took his original production "Cash in the Attic" into the digital world in 2013 with the launch of CashInTheAttic.com, a joint venture providing an online portal for fans of antiques, collectibles and vintage. In 2014, Burstall launched further joint ventures, Blacklisted Films, a new drama startup, and The Bridge, a conduit bridging English speaking TV producers with their counterparts in Asia. The Bridge is co-producing projects in Korea. Burstall's Argonon group, which currently includes eight companies, saw a  turnover of more than £55m in 2020. Argonon are listed in the London Stock Exchange "1000 Companies To Inspire Britain 2016" report as well as the 2017 report. Argonon is listed in the 2016 Sunday Times HSBC Track 200. In 2019, Argonon won the National Winner Award (UK) at the European Awards. In 2017, Argonon acquired non-scripted producer Like A Shot Entertainment. Burstall's group also invested in joint venture Bandicoot in partnership of Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton. In late 2020, Argonon acquired branded video agency, Nemorin Film & Video. In 2021, Argonon launched factual formats-focused  production company, Studio Leo, with Claire Collinson-Jones becoming Chief Creative Officer of the firm. Argonon Group companies and productions. Argonon is currently made up of eight companies including Bandicoot Scotland (a joint venture with Bandicoot co-founders Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton); Leopard Pictures ("Worzel Gummidge, BBC One"); BriteSpark East/BriteSpark Films (known for Channel 4's "Dispatches"); Leopard USA ("House Hunters International", HGTV); Windfall Films ("Unearthed", Discovery); Like A Shot ("Abandoned Engineering," UKTV's Yesterday); Studio Leo ("Inside Tesco 24/7", Channel 5) and Nemorin Film & Video. Notable productions from the various companies under the Argonon Group, include Bandicoot  Scotland's" The Masked Singer", a singing competition featuring Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan and Rita Ora as panelists. "The Masked Singer" won a Royal Television Society Programme Award 2021 in the Entertainment category and was nominated for an International Emmy Award 2021 in the Non-Scripted Entertainment category. Other notable productions include Netflix's "Hard Cell" starring Catherine Tate and Channel 5's "World’s Most Scenic River Journeys", a documentary narrated by Bill Nighy, which has been co-produced with Blue Ant Media in Canada. Argonon has won 120 awards including Emmys, BAFTAs and RTS Awards and  received over 180 nominations. Productions. Executive Producer – Leopard Films Executive Producer - Leopard USA Executive Producer - Leopard Drama