Exclusive: Ben Silverman looking to staff up following Engine purchase

Ben Silverman is staffing up his newly acquired international distribution company Electus/Engine Distribution and, speaking exclusively to TBI, hinted that it will not be his last international TV purchase.

Silverman’s Electus acquired Chris Philip’s Engine Entertainment earlier this week to form a new global distribution division. The company will have offices in London, Miami, New York and Los Angeles and will be run by Philip, who will become president, and Engine COO Chris Moreton, who will become executive vice president.

Silverman told TBI that he was also still looking to appoint sales staff. “We have some great people in place but we’re potentially looking for one more person in the mix,” he said.

He added that it would continue to pursue partnerships with international producers and distributors following deals with Israeli producer Abbot Reif Hameiri, IAC sister companies College Humor and Notional, which is run by Ricky Van Veen, US reality producers 5×5 Media, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett’s DumbDumb, and Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley’s DiGa, which is expected to announce its initial programming slate in the next two weeks.

“We’ve been working in a surgical and strategic way with College Humor and Notional and DiGa,” he said. “We’re going to continue to bring in partners.”