Sky Studios has created the new role of SVP Commercial and recruited Tobi de Graaff to the post.
De Graaff will report into Caroline Cooper, Chief Operating Officer at Sky Studios, who announced the new appointment in a note to staff.
“Hard-working, creative and commercial partnerships are critical to the success of our Sky Originals and a key priority for Sky Studios as a whole,” said Cooper. “As the content universe continues to become more complex, we’ve been thinking about how best to turbo-charge our commercial strategy to further enable our creative ambition on-screen – while aiming to be the best possible partner for indies, talent, co-producers and international licensees.”
De Graaf will have overall responsibility for commercial and co-production partnerships, including its deep distribution partnership with group company NBCUniversal Global Distribution. He will work closely with editorial and commissioning teams across Europe, and also oversee the international Scripted team, headed up by Jason Simms, as well as the LA-based SVP, Rebecca Segal, who will report to de Graaf when he joins in July.
He joins from Beiboot Representation, a company he founded with a focus on developing and financing premium television projects. Prior to that, he worked at BBC Studios as Director of Commissioning and Co-Production where he led distribution and strategy for key titles such as Dracula, Somewhere Boy and Inside Man. He previously held roles at BBC Worldwide looking after distribution, production partnerships and launching channel brands across Western Europe. He also worked at ITV Studios Global Entertainment, where he led programme sales worldwide, winning two Broadcast Awards for Best International Sales (Come Dine with Me and The Audience).
“Tobi is an excellent fit for Sky Studios,” adds Cooper. “His proven track record, broad experience of scripted and unscripted content and his strong relationships across the industry will help us deliver on our goal to deliver unmissable Sky Original content on a global scale.”
Pippa Considine
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