Ex-Electric Sky exec launches new distributor

Former Electric Sky commercial director Karen Young has struck out on her own and launched a new distribution business, Orange Smarty, TBI has learned.

Young left Electric Sky in March after a twelve year stint at the distributor, which is based in the English seaside town of Brighton.

The new business will also be based in Brighton and will be selling factual and fact-ent content across the lifestyle, crime, natural history, current affairs and culture programming categories.

Young told TBI that she wants to use her commercial experience to create a new kind of distributor that works especially closely with producers and also offers them into shorter term contracts than are standard in the industry, affording the content owners a greater degree of flexibility with their rights.

“It’s a natural progression from what I was doing to launch my own business,” she told TBI. “Our core values are ‘smart’ and ‘different from the rest’ and we are positioning ourselves differently to other distributors – we won’t be tying people into long-term deals but will have agreements for a year or two years and are rolling after that.”

The new firm will also work closely with production partners to promote their brand instead of that of the distributor if that is a priority for the content owner, Young said.

The business is only weeks old and Young was at MIPCOM meeting potential clients. The initial slate of programmes it is selling will be announced soon, she said.