Electus exec starts sales unit for Silverman prodco

Howard T Owens & Ben Silverman

Electus International distribution veteran Cyrus Farrokh is joining former his bosses Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens at indie studio Propagate Content.

Farrokh has been named president of Propagate’s international distribution arm, marking the US-based company’s move into TV sales.

He was previously senior VP and head of sales at Electus International, the LA-based distribution arm of the company Silverman founded after leaving NBC.

Silverman left Electus last year to join Owens at Propagate. The pair worked together at another former company, Reveille, before Silverman joined NBC Entertainment as chairman and Owens became president of National Geographic Channels.

Silverman and Owens, now co-CEOs of two-year-old Propagate, last year revealed the plan bring in an international chief in early 2017 in an exclusive interview with TBI.

They have already hired execs such as Jay Weisleder, ex-Electus execs Jimmy McNider and Scott Canino, ITV America’s Ivan Garel-Jones as COO, Isabel San Vargas as head of production from Pilgrim Studios, Kevin Healey from Entertainment One, and former Relativity exec Brett-Patrick Jenkins.

Propagate debuted in 2015 with financial backing from A+E Networks, whose former A&E networks chief David McKillop partnered with Owens for the launch. However, McKillop later left.

Farrokh previously worked at Reveille successor Shine International and House of Cards prodco Media Rights Capital.