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Agatha Christie chief joins Bob & Co as CEO
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Agatha Christie Ltd chief executive Hilary Strong is joining UK-based production group Bob & Co as CEO.
Strong is leaving her role at the Agatha Christie estate, which represents the IP of author Christie, after nearly five years.
She is exiting to run Bob & Co’s portfolio of television drama, factual programming, film, theatre and digital investments, and will lead the company’s investments in a new literary estates business.
Bob & Co currently comprises high-end TV arm Duchess Street Productions, film firm SUMS Media, doc and factual specialist Woodcut Media, factual entertainment prodco Spark TV, and kids TV-focused Larkshead Media.
It also has an investment arm, The Cultural Capital Fund, which helps finance TV, drama and theatre projects, and theatre investment prodco Ghost Light.
Strong will help push Bob & Co. into the literary estate industry with the launch of a new division. She has also worked at Chorion, which owned the Agatha Christie estate before selling to Acorn Media in 2012, and Hat Trick Productions.
“With over 20 years in the industry Hilary Strong has an impeccable business pedigree and the ability to straddle both the commercial and creative space effectively in a global market,” said Bob & Co president and founder Bob Benton.
Strong said she was joining Bob & Co “at a time the industry is seeing a genuine convergence and cross fertilisation between media platforms”.
Benton said the hire was part of a plan to establish seven-year-old Bob & Co as the UK’s top media production company.
“In addition to the current production and finance business, we will be investing in a new rights ownership business, which will be acquiring literary estates,” she added. “This will be supported by, and will feed into, our existing production businesses across all platforms.”
“Our joint ambition is to make Bob & Co the go to media production and investment group, where the best talent can create the most engaging and entertaining content across all our businesses areas,” he added.
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