Nick Curwin, Founder Of British Production Houses Dragonfly & The Garden, Retiring From Indie Incubator Matisse

Nick Curwin, who founded two storied British production houses and went on to run indie incubator Matisse, is retiring.

Matisse, which has backed indies including Dan Grabiner’s Orchard Studios and SNL UK lead producer James Longman’s Jolly Octupus, will solely be run by co-founder Scarlett Ewens.

Curwin is best known for founding first Firefly (now Dragonfly) and then The Garden, which have made hits including Ambulance and Squid Game: The Challenge down the years and are amongst some of the UK’s best known unscripted indies. He helped sell Dragonfly to Shine Group and The Garden to ITV Studios, before founding Matisse with Ewens seven years back.

Curwin will remain with Matisse until the end of the year.

“It’s been a privilege to have had a wonderful career in television, capped by a fantastic seven years with Scarlett and Ed,” said Curwin. “As I slope off shortly to enjoy other things, Matisse’s wonderful roster of brilliant clients remains in the most excellent, skilled and experienced hands.”

Ewens added: “I’ve had the enormous privilege of working with Nick for nearly 20 years, from Dragonfly and The Garden to Matisse. He is quite simply one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever worked with. His creative instincts, entrepreneurialism and ability to see what makes both a great programme and a great business are incredibly rare.”

Ewens will continue working with creative director Edwina Silver, with the pair focusing on advising existing and new clients on building their indies.