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My guest this week has his name above the door of his movie studio STX Entertainment. Bob Simonds built his career in Hollywood working with stars like Adam Sandler and Steve Martin and his movies have made billions at the global box office. Bob then founded STX using the same principle of casting stars in signature roles and that strategy has led to more box office and critical success with movies like Bad Moms, The Upside, Hustlers and 21 Bridges. Bob talked about his start in the business, working with talent and re-shaping theatrical releasing. Enjoy!

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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Adam Kirby has been a force on the British advertising and marketing scene for a generation. Working as an Account Director at leading advertising agencies like AMV, Lowe Howard-Spink, Bates Dorland and Saatchi and Saatchi, Adam worked on some of the most iconic campaigns in British advertising history, before he made a move to the client side at Diageo and now operates as a marketing consultant. Not content with filling the advertising breaks with great creative, Adam is now on UK screens in hit C4 reality TV series Make Me Prime Minister, so we had a lot of ground to cover in the podcast. Enjoy!

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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My guest this week is Wonderhood Studios chairman and former C4 CEO David Abraham. David's career straddles the advertising and broadcast industries and he has been in the vanguard of changes in both businesses, from his early days at Chiat/Day and then St Luke's advertising agencies; his move to Discovery and then TLC in the US; his role as CEO at UKTV; his tenure running UK broadcaster C4; and now with Wonderhood Studios, which brings those disciplines together under one roof. Enjoy!  

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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Ali vs Frazier; Barca vs Real; the Red Sox vs the Yankees. When heavyweights in sport come up against each other, something magical happens. And on this week's episode of Here Comes Sports Pod is one of the sports rights industry's big hitters, David Kogan. 

Currently a board member of C4, David has had a stellar career as a journalist, TV and radio producer and author, but he specialises in negotiating TV sports rights and acted as the primary media advisor to the English Premier League for 17 years, often stepping into the ring with Sky and my recent guest Mike Darcey. So whilst the setting may have been more back garden than Madison Square Garden, David and I  were still able to cover some fascinating areas, including his early days in media, building a competitive market for the EPL's TV rights, the role of regulation in sport and the potential for the WSL. Think of this episode as the Chill in Muswell Hill - enjoy! 

And if you are a football fan there are plenty of other football-related interviews on Here Comes Pod. There Used To Be A Football League There is a deep dive into English football in the 1980s with some incredible interviews. Bernd Reichart talks about A22 and the plans for a new European football structure, Keiran Maguire discusses his career and podcast The Price of Football, Mike Darcey dissects Sky's approach to negotiating with the Premier League and there are interviews with Pele, Bobby Charlton and Irving Scholar that come from the archives of my dad Ken's journalist career. Add in Keith Burkinshaw and Steve Perryman and there are lots of football options on Here Comes Pod if you take a look in the feed.

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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This week's guest on Here Comes Pod is Lionsgate President of Worldwide TV and Digital Distribution Jim Packer. Jim and I chatted about his early days at Disney; learning new skills and gaining new experience  at MGM,  including navigating the transition of the company's sales into Sony Pictures and out again; rebuilding the sales team at MGM; and finding his entrepreneurial home at Lionsgate. What is clear is that Jim's thirst for knowledge and insight has been the driving force in his rise to head of a worldwide sales operation, but that sometimes the world is not enough.  Enjoy!  

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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The Premier League launched as The Premiership in 1992 and football in England was transformed. But as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the start of this global phenomenon, we shouldn't forget that football did exist PPL - Pre Premier League. In the decade prior to the formation of the league, the 1980s, football's fortunes ebbed and flowed, but it left an indelible mark on the players and supporters who fell in love with the game prior to its Premier League existence.

It was a world of one club men like Steve Perryman and Trevor Brooking who were icons of the English game. But the fans still revered the greats of the past like Pele, Cruyff and Charlton who had forged their reputations in previous eras. New managers like Alex Ferguson were trying to make their mark, and established managers like Keith Burkinshaw were winning trophies but fearing for the more commercial future as new leaders in the boardroom - men like Irving Scholar at Tottenham and David Dein at Arsenal - were re-shaping the structure of the game in response to tragedy and opportunity, supported by advisors like Alex Fynn. Foreign players like Ossie Ardiles were starting to make their mark, and managers like John Lyall were assessing the merits of bringing more into the English game. Agents like Jerome Anderson were scouring Europe for new players whilst starting to support their clients' desire to secure a better financial present and future, and coaches like West Ham's Tony Carr were trying to develop the skills in players that seemed to be disappearing in a league that became more muscular and direct in style. Media coverage was limited, but a new breed of journalists like Henry Winter were joining the ranks of the football press to bring a new insightful style of match reporting, and radio stations like LBC - led by Steve Tongue - provided the best access to the Saturday experience in the home.

LBC was also the place that my dad, Ken Goldman, began his football journalism career and his archive of interviews from this era provides an incredible insight into football in England in the 1980s. In this extended episode you'll hear from all of the people above, whether they were interviewed in the 80s or sharing their recent memories of this period. I fell in love with football in the 1980s, and it was a joyous and emotional journey of revelation and reflection for me to go back to the decade that provided the platform for the Premier League that is now celebrating another milestone. I hope you enjoy the journey too!

Finally many thanks to everyone who contributed as an interviewee and who helped me to connect with so many insightful and helpful people.  

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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If you are interested in the evolution of Pay TV in the UK, the dynamics of high end sports rights negotiations, and the challenges of leading a large media organisation during a period of intense regulatory and legal scrutiny, then this week's episode of Here Comes Sports Pod will be perfect. 

Mike Darcey spent 15 years at Sky overseeing strategy for the group and then moving into the COO chair, before Rupert Murdoch asked him to navigate News International through some incredibly choppy waters. He now has a number of advisory and board roles, not least of which is Chair of British Gymnastics. Mike shares some fascinating stories from his time in these roles, and we covered so much ground that this is a bumper extended episode. Enjoy!

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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My guest on this episode of Here Comes Pod is Joanna Reesby, founder of the leading creative industry executive search firm Mission Bay. Whilst Joanna is probably more used to discussing other people's careers, in this episode she talks about her start as a lawyer in New Zealand, moving into a commercial role at Hasbro, the joy of working with the two Simons,  Fuller and Cowell, at 19 Entertainment and her move into executive search. We covered Mission Bay's recent integration into SRI and Joanna revealed the two people she would recruit to save the world! Enjoy. 

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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This week's guest on Here Comes Pod is one of the UK's most experienced TV executives, Dawn Airey. We covered a lot of ground - her start in the business at ITV, her move to C4, Greg Dyke's cunning plan to entice her over to C5 and the joy of launching the channel, life at Sky under Tony Ball and James Murdoch, and returning to C4 as a board member and interim chair. Enjoy!

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts 

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Here Comes Sports Pod is back with another legend of English football from the 1980s. Keith Burkinshaw was a trailblazer when he signed Argentinian World Cup winners Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa to Tottenham Hotspur just weeks after the 1978 tournament. He took a relegated team to domestic and European cup success before leaving the club with a prescient warning about the growing influence of money in the game. Keith joined me to chat about his time at Tottenham and relive some very happy memories. Enjoy!  

You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts