About Us
The Jon Blair Film Company was set up in 1985, initially as a production vehicle for a single documentary about cowboys for the BBC, PBS and other co-producers directed by Jon Blair with narration by Robert Redford and Glenn Close.
Then in 1987, with the desire to widen his repertoire and
concentrate on building his own company, Jon left Spitting Image Productions
which he had jointly created with the original founders of the legendary comedy
series, and where he had been Managing Director of the company and Joint
Producer and then Executive Producer of the UK series and specials, as well as
all of Spitting Image’s US projects.
Two years later Jon created an associated graphic design company, McCallum Kennedy D’Auria Ltd, which went on to win many design awards for its title sequences, branding and other television graphic elements. However, in 1996 after winning an Oscar, Jon decided to scale both companies back, and Jon Blair Films once more became a vehicle for his own productions, along with a limited number of co-ventures with other partners.
Over the years the company has produced films for theatrical release and documentaries for TV, as well as drama and comedy, and we have worked with most of the major broadcasters in the UK and US, as well as Arté in Europe. Our productions have sold worldwide to more than 50 countries.
Currently, together with a partner independent production company, we are developing a period drama series for a major UK broadcaster and we are also developing a feature film based on a true story for an internationally recognised Executive Producer which is being written by an award winning writer .
The company is always open to new opportunities, whether generated from inside or brought to it by people or companies that believe we have something to offer in the production of high quality,innovative film and television.
About Jon
Jon Blair was originally a political refugee from apartheid era South Africa and is now a multi-award winning producer and director of films and television. His diverse body of work is more often than not characterised by a concern for, and interest in the importance of human rights in the world.
His many awards include an Academy Award, an Emmy and an International Documentary Association Distinguished Achievement Award for his film about Anne Frank, a British Academy Award for his documentary on Oscar Schindler which was later used as a research resource by Steven Spielberg and his team in making the film Schindler’s List, another Emmy for his series on the history of war reporting, and both a Robert F. Kennedy Grand Prize for Journalism and an Amnesty International Media Award for a documentary on the clamp down on the Arab Spring protest movement in Bahrain in 2012.
Jon’s other work includes a play based on the inquest into the death in prison of South African Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko, performed off-Broadway and around the world, including a filmed version starring Albert Finney. He was also the co-originator of one of the landmarks in British television, the satirical comedy series “Spitting Image”.
In 2015 Jon was offered a CBE by the Queen for his contribution to film and after a quick look at others who had accepted, as well as those who had declined, he thought it would probably be churlish to say no to the honour!