Alex Breingan is a UK-born New Zealand television executive producer, television writer and former radio producer and host.
Starting his career in UK commercial radio and later as a producer at the BBC, Breingan moved to New Zealand in 2002, where he worked in radio management before transitioning into television. He co-founded Choice TV, now known as Eden in 2012, which was later acquired by international media companies, and established Stripe Studios, a production company responsible for various TV series in New Zealand.[1]
He began his career in the mid 1990s in UK commercial radio and later as a producer at the BBC before moving to NZ in 2002.[4] He spent 10 years in NZ radio including as Mediawork's Radio Operations Manager and Assistant Programme Director for both More FM and RadioLIVE.[5] Breingan then moved into TV as Channel Manager for SKY TV's Food TV and The Living Channel.[5][6]
In 2012 Breingan co-founded free to air TV channel Choice TV which launched on Freeview and Sky that year. Canadian Media company Blue Ant Media acquired the channel in 2014. Discovery Inc. later acquired Choice TV in 2019.[4][7][8]
In TV production, Breingan established production company Stripe Media in 2014, also known as Stripe Studios. The production company produced various television shows across New Zealand including the TV3 morning series, The Cafe[9][10][11] which aired from 2016 until 2020.
Stripe Studios production includes series previously on SKY Open New Zealand, Discovery Australia New Zealand, TVNZ and NBCU NZ for the channel Bravo. Breingan created, co-wrote and produced The Circus, Rich Listers, and Discovery's Great Southern Truckers.[12]Rich Listers received criticism after Breingan publicly mentioned that the show was fictional.[13]
Since 2019, Breingan has been a semi finals judge for the International Emmy Awards and later a finals judge in 2022.[14][15]
Financial and legal issues
In February 2024 reports emerged that Stripe Studios had failed to pay post-production companies and visiting actors for their work.[16][17] In March 2024 one of the company's production entities, Stripe Studios (Comedy) Ltd was liquidated by the court,[17] and Stripe Media went into receivership.[18][19] A receivers report found over NZD $20 million of debt,[20] as well as "irregularities" in the companies' finances which were then referred to the Serious Fraud Office.[20][21] Additional companies associated with Stripe Studios were placed into liquidation due to unpaid taxes and outstanding debts to creditors in July 2024.[22]
Breingan has said that a U-turn decision by the New Zealand Film Commission was a cause for the financial issues. The Commission has denied this.[20] Breingan has also stated that such allegations were false and defamatory, writing that the NZ Herald was provided with false information.[23]
During the liquidation process Breingan attempted to re-establish himself overseas, establishing two production companies in the UK.[24][25] An attempt to raise money for a documentary film about the English singer Tony Hadley was aborted after it was reported in the New Zealand media.[26] He later moved to Los Angeles, beginning new projects under the alias Darci Penn.[27]
New Zealand Investigation
In September 2024, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's (MBIE) Integrity and Enforcement Team confirmed that they were investigating if Breingan should be disqualified from directing New Zealand companies.[27]