Biography

David Ellender is the LA-based Chief Executive Officer of Chicken Soup for the Soul Television Group and Halcyon Studios. Ellender joined Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in May 2021 to oversee the TV production labels including Landmark Studios, Chicken Soup for the Soul Studios, Locomotive Global and Halcyon Studios – producing a broad range of scripted and unscripted TV series.

Ellender took the role after Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment acquired Sonar Entertainment assets where he oversaw, as CEO, the company’s global production & distribution activities and executive produced some notable TV projects including Das Boot (2018) for Sky in Europe, Hunters starring Al Pacino for Amazon Prime (2020), Alien Xmas (2020) for Netflix and Mysterious Benedict Society (2021) for Disney+ amongst other US and International TV productions.

Prior to Sonar Entertainment, Ellender served as CEO and Board Member for Slingshot Global Media, an independent television studio he founded in Los Angeles in January 2014 to source, develop, fund, produce and distribute high-quality scripted content. Earlier in his career, based in London, Ellender was CEO of Fremantle Media Enterprises (FME) and served on the board of directors of Fremantle Media Group initially joining the company as Managing Director of FME in 2001. Prior to Fremantle he had held several senior management roles with Universal Television International as Managing Director (EMEA) and PolyGram Television International as CEO.