BiggerStage Expands Creative and Production Teams with Two Key Hires

Shane Byrne and Lizzie Beasley take up leading executive roles driving growth in unscripted production.

Dublin/London, 29 November, 2022.

BiggerStage, the Dublin-headquartered media and entertainment company, has appointed Shane Byrne and Lizzie Beasley to the senior roles of head of entertainment and head of production. These key hires are set to meet the demands of BiggerStage’s growing pipeline of international unscripted production. Recent productions include Beat Shazam hosted by Jamie Foxx and a bumper re-order of Name That Tune for FOX, as well as The Big Deal for Virgin Media Television.    

 As BiggerStage’s first head of entertainment, Shane Byrne will lead the company’s slate of international unscripted productions, while helping to develop new entertainment formats. Byrne most recently served as executive producer and showrunner on two seasons of FOX’s successful revival of classic format Name That Tune, including the recently announced celebrity contestant edition - Celebrity Name That Tune - which debuts on January 11th next. Over the course of his television career, which started at RTÉ in Dublin, Byrne has worked for many of the UK’s leading production companies on some of the biggest entertainment brands in television, including Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor for ITV; Strictly Come Dancing for the BBC; Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother and Blind Date for Channel 5; Alan Carr’s Chatty Man and the annual Comedy Gala for Channel 4; and Got To Dance for Sky One. Other credits include The Circle for Netflix and Queen of the Universe for Paramount Plus.

As head of production, Lizzie Beasley will be responsible for BiggerStage’s slate from development to delivery. She joins from All3Media’s Betty, where she was production lead across their slate which included all Discovery UK commissions, including Builds on Wheels and the hit Wheeler Dealers franchise. She also managed The Undateables, Tricks of the Restaurant Trade, Saving Our Nurses and the Emmy-nominated For the Love of Kitchens for Magnolia Network. Over the course of her 15-year career in production, Beasley has worked for Pulse Films, CPL Productions, Zig Zag, Eyeworks, Fremantle, RDF Television, Love Productions and Talkback Thames. Her credits span some of the most successful formats of the past decade, including The Apprentice, Spendaholics and Sun Sex and Suspicious Parents for the BBC, and Channel 4’s Married at First Sight and Educating Essex.

Sean O’Riordan, creative director of BiggerStage, said: “Following an exciting two years, we are supporting our growth and diverse pipeline with exceptional talent, both home-grown and international. In Shane and Lizzie, we have the energy, vision and experience to drive us onwards and upwards. Ireland is now firmly establishing itself as a high-quality, cost-effective base for world-class unscripted production. With this expanded creative and production team, BiggerStage is ready to push on to the next level.” 

About BiggerStage 

Founded in March 2021 by Pat Kiely, former managing director of Virgin Media Television, BiggerStage is a media and entertainment company founded on three pillars: producing great content, developing stand-out talent and creating innovative partnerships. Headquartered in Dublin, the company develops original content for the global market and creates studio hubs in Ireland for international television production. It also represents major talent and partners with industry stakeholders and brands to develop new content funding models, while leveraging Ireland’s creative and commercial benefits.

For further information, please contact:

Cheryl Clarke at Mushroom Media on:
Tel: +44 (0)7939554109
E: cheryl@mushroom-media.co.uk