Abacus Media Rights hires TVF Int’l exec as head of acquisitions

Four Hours At The Capitol

UK-based distributor Abacus Media Rights has appointed TVF International exec Will Stapley as head of acquisitions across both scripted and unscripted.

Stapley joins Amcomri-owned Abacus following a six-year stint at TVF International, most recently as head of acquisitions and partnerships, which he was promoted to last year. In that role, Stapley has been responsible for managing and developing the acquisitions and content partnerships strategy across all programme genres.

Will Stapley

He has acquired more than 2,000 hours of programming from producers worldwide and assisted with deficit financing and co-productions, in addition to advising on international edits, as well as being an executive producer on several recent productions.

Prior to this, Stapley spent six years heading up the TVF Asia Pacific team, where he oversaw sales, acquisitions and partnerships across the region, brokering financing, format and co-production deals.

Four Hours At The Capitol distributor Abacus recently struck a deal to retain former Flame Media sales & acquisition chief Fiona Gilroy, following the buy-out of the Australian company by Abacus owner Amcomri Entertainment.

Abacus’ most recent acquisitions, which will be launched at MIPCOM in October, include the feature documentary The Ghost Of Richard Harris, from Bright Yellow Films, Samson Films and Groove International; Maxine, a true crime drama from Clapperboard Studios; The Frontier, a six part series exploring the legends, events and folklore of the American frontier, produced by Dash Pictures and Amcomri Productions and Downfall Of The Porn King: The Ron Jeremy Story from BriteSpark Films – a two-part documentary exploring the rise and fall of the world’s biggest porn star.

Abacus MD Jonathan Ford commented: “We are very pleased to welcome Will to join our growing team at AMR. Our continued growth is dependent on securing the right productions across both scripted and unscripted content. Will’s extensive experience and established producer relationships will enable us to further broaden our wide-ranging and high-end portfolio of programming.”