Paul Heaney leaving Cineflix

Cineflix Rights president and managing director Paul Heaney is leaving the company. Heaney will depart at the end of May after a decade at the production and distribution firm.

“I’ve been at Cineflix for ten years and this was a very tough decision for a risk-averse person like me,” Heaney told TBI. “But the timing couldn’t be better in terms of the profile of the business and the team I have built.”

Heaney added that he will stay in the TV business although he does not have a new role lined up as yet. “If I am working with creative and business people with the same vision then I will be on the right track.”

His departure comes soon after Chris Bonney joined the company as CEO, Rights, Cineflix Media. Bonney’s appointment was announced last October and he joined the company in February. Cineflix said Bonney will cover the Cineflix Rights role while it decides on how it will be filled.

“Chris has come in to do a different job and I was thinking about new opportunities since before his arrival,” Heaney said. “Him being here makes it easier to leave as I know the team is in safe hands.”

The company has significantly ramped up production in recent years giving the distribution division a big slate and Cineflix is one of the largest independent distributors at trade shows including MIPTV and MIPCOM. The company also attracted a raft of third-party programming including Channel 7 Productions Border Security, during Heaney’s tenure.