Connected Set adds Studio 71's Tom Payne

Youth focused indie The Connected Set has hired Tom Payne, Studio71’s former Director of Content, to help expand its shortform production activities and TV slate.

The Edinburgh TV Awards ‘Small Indie of the Year’ nominated production company, with credits including Face The Consequences for BBC Three and Mashed, the cross platform comedy and gaming community for Channel 4’s 4Studio, has recently won a series of large orders for the forthcoming Teens strand to be shared across E4’s social platforms, several new productions for Channel 4 and E4’s TikTok channels and for BBC Education, alongside a number of linear projects in the works.

Tom, who started this week as an Executive Producer at the company, previously oversaw Studio71 productions including “Trip Hazard: My Great British Adventure” for Channel 4, “Fully Blown” and BAFTA nominated “The Main Part” for BBC and two series of “Forged With Steele” for A+E. He also launched Studio71’s first podcast network of 11 original shows, which was nominated for Best Network at the British Podcast Awards last year. Prior to this Tom spent several years at Spirit Studios, producing and directing a large range of digital projects for broadcasters and brands.

The Connected Set’s Creative Director Jason Mitchell said: “Tom’s consistent track record of delivering both digital and linear projects with exceptional production values makes him a perfect fit for our company. The last 12 months has seen digital first production booming and Tom joins at an exciting time as we grow our revenues across a wide variety of social platforms and look to expand this IP into longform”

On taking up his new role Tom said: “I’ve always been hugely impressed by the shows The Connected Set have created and their ethos of focusing on youth and diverse audiences fits perfectly with my passions and skillset. I’m incredibly excited to help their push into increasingly larger and more ambitious projects while maintaining what makes them such a forward thinking and unique company.”