Twofour opening LA office, hires OWN exec

British independent producer Twofour is opening a US division and has hired former OWN programming boss Danny Villa to run it.

The company, which produces series including BBC Three’s Be Your Own Boss and ITV2’s The Exclusives, is opening an office in Los Angeles as it looks to expand into the US cable market, producing non-scripted series and adapting its UK formats.

It has hired Villa as executive vice president; he was previously vice president of programming and development at OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Prior to that he was vice president at Wilmer Valderrama’s production company and also had a stint at MTV Networks, where he worked on shows including Punk’d and Yo Mama.

Twofour has also hired former Raw Television executive Seth Goolnik as vice president of development.

Charles Wace, group chief executive, said: “The opening of the US office is an important and logical step in the continued growth of Twofour and complements our existing international presence in Abu Dhabi and Brussels.”