Jane Root has appointed former Channel 4 boss Michael Jackson and ex-Endemol chief creative officer Peter Bazalgette to the board of her new indie, Nutopia.

Jackson, currently non-executive chairman at STV, and Bazalgette, non-executive chairman of Sony Pictures Television’s UK production business, will form a four-strong team including managing director Laura Franses, who was previously acting managing director at Raw TV and chief operating officer of Amaze TV. Root is the new company’s chief executive.
Nutopia, which is based in both London and Washington DC, will specialise in “high-scale” productions on “classic subjects”. Its focus will be factual and factually-inspired drama.

Nutopia’s first commission is a 12 x 60-minute history series called America: The Story of Us. It will use CGI technology and dramatisation to show how a combination of visionary thinkers and innovations in technology and engineering have helped build the modern America.

The indie is currently developing projects for BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Discovery Channel US.

Root quit her post as president of Discovery Channel US in 2007. There she commissioned some of the network’s biggest hits, including Man vs Wild, Born Survivor and Deadliest Catch.