Ben Stephenson’s ITV Studios-backed scripted label, Poison Pen Studios, has appointed Fern McCauley as Head of Development. McCauley moves over from her role as Head of IP Acquisitions at the label.
McCauley’s appointment comes as the studio, which focuses on high-end premium drama across London and Los Angeles, prepares for the launch of two major new dramas on ITV later this year. Adultery, is a provocative love-story drama starring Dominic Cooper and Romola Garai and written by Danny Brocklehurst, and serial killer thriller The Dark, starring Laura Donnelly which is based upon GR Halliday’s debut novel, From The Shadows, and adapted by Matt Hartley.
Yesterday it was announced that Poison Pen Director of Development, Luke Woellhaf, was to leave to join former Poison Pen creative director, Preethi Mavahalli’s, new indie Paper Mill Productions.
McCauley will now work with Stephenson across both the London and US based teams to drive the development of British and American dramas.
Prior to her role as the label’s Head of IP Acquisitions, where McCauley led the strategy for sourcing IP across publishing, podcasts and other media, she was the first Head of Media Development at Hachette. In this role she oversaw film and TV rights deals as well as IP development across publishing houses Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, John Murray Press, Orion Publishing Group, Little Brown, Quercus, and Headline Publishing Group. Before that, she was an associate literary agent at The Artists Partnership, working across a list of book to film and screenwriting clients.
Ben Stephenson says: “We are now four years into Poison Pen and with two shows under our belt I’m excited to have Fern at the helm of development. We already have a bunch of development at FX, HBO, BBC, ITV, Netflix, Amazon and Sky and I’m looking forward to working with Fern across our UK and US slates to find more poppy, authored, page turney series for both markets. Fern is an incredible and kind executive with impeccable taste and I’m excited to start this new chapter.”
Fern McCauley: “Heading up IP Acquisitions for Poison Pen has been an amazing experience, especially seeing our first book-to-TV adaptation, The Dark, come to fruition so quickly. I’m delighted to take on the Head of Development role, helping guide Poison Pen into its next phase. Ben is a brilliant, supportive, and fun person to work for who shares my passion for finding bold stories for big audiences. We have an incredibly exciting slate of screenwriters and IP and I look forward to getting our projects onto TV screens internationally.”
Jon Creamer
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