Big Fish Names Lucilla D'Agostino First CCO, Launches Spearfish Creative Headed By George McTeague

Big Fish Entertainment, the production company behind A&E's Live PD, cable's #1 series Friday andSaturday nights, and VH1's hit BLACK INK CREW franchise, the #1 non-sports cable program in its time period, is expanding its infrastructure after a banner 2017, tapping former Sirens Media executive and producer Lucilla D'Agostino as its first chief creative officer.

Additionally, the company is launching Spearfish Creative, a new division dedicated to digital and branded-entertainment content, and elevating longtime executive George McTeague, who will run the initiative, to executive vice president of development from SVP, development.

Both announcements were made today by Big Fish Entertainment founder and President Dan Cesareo, to whom both D'Agostino and McTeague report.

D'Agostino, who most recently served as executive vice president, current programming & development at Sirens Media, will shepherd Big Fish's creative strategy and oversee the company's original programming and development, as well as drive international format sales and acquisitions, and LEVERAGE the company's intellectual property for growth opportunities in broadcast, cable, and digital and streaming platforms.

In his new role, McTeague, who joined Big Fish in 2013, will lead the development and sales of digital and branded-entertainment content, and orchestrate corporate and strategic partnerships with brands and talent. He will continue to serve as executive producer on such Big Fish series as LIVE PD (A&E) and Hustle & Soul (WE tv), while cultivating new IP for the digital market and offering advertisers the opportunity to produce original programming for broadcast, cable and digital/OTT.

Said Cesareo, "The pace of growth here at Big Fish has made the past few years an incredible ride. I could not be more thrilled to bring on an exceptional creative like Lucilla - a force of nature with a wealth of development and hands-on production experience, and valuable industry relationships. Her massive creative bandwidth makes this an ideal moment for Big Fish to push into the digital and branded entertainment space with Spearfish Creative; I know in George's capable hands the division will drive the kind of noisy, unique IP that Big Fish is known for, while also expanding our footprint in the industry."

Lucilla D'Agostino Bio

Prior to her role as chief creative officer at Big Fish Entertainment, D'Agostino served since 2015 as executive vice president, current programming & development at Sirens Media, executive producing such hit series as The Real Housewives of New Jersey, MANZO'D WITH CHILDREN and THICKER THAN WATER for Bravo, as well as Discovery's lauded true crime series Killing Fields. Prior to joining Sirens in 2007, she worked as a freelance producer, writing, directing and producing series for networks including National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet, ABC Family, Travel Channel and Bravo.

George McTeague Bio

McTeague joined Big Fish in 2013, bringing 25 years of television experience as a producer, director and writer, and having amassed more than 1000 hours of programming. Prior to Big Fish, McTeague was senior vice president of development for Gigantic! Productions, overseeing such series as TRUE LIFE and WASHINGTON HEIGHTS for MTV, and Secretly Pregnant and Birth Moms for TLC. He was also senior vice president of development at Red Line Films, with credits including Bullit The Documentary for Redbull Media House, as well as projects for NBC Sports, Animal Planet and The Food Network. He previously worked in development at MTV, rising through the ranks from producer to vice president of east coast development for the network where he developed across multiple genres including game, sketch comedy, reality competition, docu-drama and musical performance.

About Big Fish Entertainment

Big Fish Entertainment is a full service production company that creates multi-platform, visually driven content that compels and entertains audiences with the "unexpected." Founded in 2006 by President Dan Cesareo, Big Fish has since produced more than 600 hours of award-winning and top-rated programming in the live, unscripted reality, lifestyle and documentary space. Current Big Fish series include #1 unscripted crime series LIVE PD for A&E, offering viewers unfiltered live access inside policing in America; bold dating series DATE NIGHT LIVE for Lifetime; mega-hit franchise BLACK INK CREW New York and Chicago for VH1; Chris Paul's Chapter 3 for ESPN; Tattoo Girls for TLC and culinary docu-series Hustle & Soul for WE tv. With other credits including Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan and the Gates Foundation Reality PD public schools project, Big Fish captures and relates extraordinary worlds, characters and stories for such networks as Lifetime, A&E, VH1, WE tv, Discovery, TLC, MTV, E!, National Geographic, Oxygen, Travel Channel and Paramount Network. For more information, visit bigfishusa.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.