Pawn Stars producer Leftfield hires former Optomen exec Rob Hill

Pawn Stars producer Leftfield Pictures has hired former Pilgrim Studios and Optomen executive Rob Hill to run its nascent Los Angeles office as it looks to expand into scripted television.

The US production company, which is based in New York has hired Hill as vice president of development in LA and hopes to quickly ramp up its moves into scripted development.

This comes as founder Brent Montgomery told TBI that the company was looking to staff up, both in LA and internationally. Montgomery was at MIPCOM last week to talk to international producers and distributors as it looks to grow its business.

Hill was previously vice president of development at Pilgrim Studios, where he worked on series including Discovery’s Fast N’ Loud, and before that he was head of development at British production company Optomen developing series including Gordon Ramsay Shark Bait and Mary Portas Secret Shopper.

“We could not be happier to welcome Rob Hill to Leftfield. He is a seasoned and aggressive development executive with creative, edgy ideas that we believe are perfectly in tune with the Leftfield brand, as we enter this new phase in our evolution,” said Montgomery.

“Leftfield Pictures has experienced enormous growth during the last four years, and for that we credit an extremely talented and hard-working development and production team, as well as collaborative network partners who demand the very best – and then push us to exceed their expectations. While we may be best known for shows in the ‘hidden treasures’ genre we helped elevate with Pawn Stars, Leftfield has also been expanding into other areas of programming. We felt the time was right to establish a permanent presence in Los Angeles, allowing access to new and different types of talent on both sides of the camera,” he added.