Variety: Studiocanal Hires Sky Studios Commissioner Paul Gilbert as SVP of English-Language Series

Story from Variety:

Studiocanal is expanding its U.K. leadership team with the hiring of Paul Gilbert as the SVP of English-language series. He will be based in London and will report to managing director of television M-K Kennedy.

Gilbert was previously a commissioning editor for Sky Studios, where he exec produced a raft of series such as Joe Barton’s BAFTA-award-winning “The Lazarus Project” and up-coming mini-series “Amadeus,” “A Town Called Malice,” “Tin Star” and “The Fear Index.”

Under her new role at Studiocanal, Gilbert will spearhead the development and production of a slate of premium series hailing from the U.K. and U.S., which Studiocanal will produce via their recently launched in-house producing arm.

Gilbert will also work closely with Studiocanal’s production companies, such as Urban Myth Films, The Picture Company, SunnyMarch, Strong Film & TV, Birdie Pictures, and the recently announced Brock Media.

Gilbert is, for instance, executive producing Studiocanal’s upcoming political thriller “Army of Shadows” (for Channel 4 and Canal+) written by Ronan Bennett and “Apollo Has Fallen” currently in production for the studio. “Apollo Has Fallen” is the second installment of the anthology that kicked off with “Paris Has Fallen,” Studiocanal’s first in-house international series which broke rating records on Canal+ and topped the charts on Amazon U.K. and Hulu in the U.S.

Kennedy, who joined Studiocanal from Netflix about two years ago, praised Gilbert’s “outstanding taste, sharp story instincts, and deep relationships in the U.K. creative community.”

“He will play a pivotal role in accelerating the growth of our English-language production arm and will provide thought-partnership and support for the producers under the Studiocanal umbrella,” he continued.

Gilbert said, “Studiocanal is synonymous with world-class storytelling, so joining at such a pivotal moment in its evolution is a privilege.”

“With a growing global appetite for daring, premium English-language TV series, the opportunity to harness that demand through Studiocanal’s unrivalled reputation – and ability to self-produce and finance – is irresistible,” Gilbert continued. He said the company had the ambitious to push forward “audacious ideas, empowering the best writers, directors and producers to deliver the kind of series that audiences everywhere want to watch and talk about.”