Guesswork Television’s founder Kevin Whyte has hired TV executive Jon Casimir who will join the company in 2020 in the new role of managing director. Casimir, best known as the co-creator of Gruen and You Can’t Ask That, will lead the Guesswork team from its Surry Hills office and give the Melbourne-based Guesswork business a full-time presence in Sydney.
Guesswork is part of the Token Group, which includes Token Artists, Token Events and Creative Representation. It has offices in Melbourne and Sydney.
Casimir will work alongside the team of creative director Todd Abbott, head of production Frank Bruzzese and general manager Heather Pritchard. Guesswork Television is the company behind the programs Rosehaven, Get Krack!n, Nanette, Please Like Me, Frayed, Hard Quiz and The Weekly. Most recently Guesswork produced a series of 10 stand-up comedy specials for Amazon Prime Video.
Token Group managing director Kevin Whyte said, “We have worked with Jon in many guises for many years and admired his smarts, taste and faith in artists. I can’t imagine anyone better to take on this new role and spearhead this next phase at Guesswork.”
Jon Casimir said, “Guesswork is a nimble, flexible production house, well placed to thrive in the changing media environment. It’s a thrill to join a company with great people and a great track record. I sincerely hope I don’t break all the toys.”
Casimir will start in February 2020.
His last role was as CEO of Legacy Media, which produced two seasons of Andrew Denton’s Interview for Seven.
Before that, from 2014-2017, he was the head of entertainment at ABC TV. During that time he commissioned new programs including The Weekly, Luke Warm Sex, Hard Quiz, Dream Gardens, The House with Annabel Crabb, Growing Up Gracefully, Whovians, Shortcuts To Glory, Sammy J’s Playground Politics, When I Get A Minute, Fancy Boy, Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am and When TV Was Awesome.
Prior to the ABC, he worked at Zapruder’s/CJZ on Enough Rope With Andrew Denton, Hungry Beast, Randling, Elders, The Joy Of Sets, Can Of Worms and Reality Check.
Casimir’s career began in print journalism at music magazine RAM. He spent 17 years as a writer and editor at The Sydney Morning Herald where he was, among other things, instrumental in the creation of the smh.com.au news site. He has written four books and edited six others.