A+E lands DSP creative director Ninder Billing & Shaftesbury’s Alexandra Finlay for copro push

Ninder Billing

A+E Networks has hired Darlow Smithson Productions exec Ninder Billing and Alexandra Finlay from Shaftesbury as part of a rejig of its senior management team.

Billing becomes VP of unscripted co-productions for international, while Finlay takes up the equivalent VP of scripted position. Both report into Patrick Vien, group MD at A+E International.

The duo will be based out of London and will be responsible for identifying opportunities with global appeal, overseeing development and production, while working with existing producers, creatives and commissioning partners.

Billing was most recently creative director at Darlow Smithson and before that was head of specialist factual at The Garden, where she was behind Operation Live for Channel 5 and Police Tapes for ITV. Billing has also previously been commissioning editor for factual at Paramount-owned C5.

Alexandra Finlay

Finlay is joining A+E having been VP of creative & coproductions for the past five years at Canadian prodco Shaftesbury, where she worked on SisterS for Sundance, Crave and RTE. Prior to that, she was head of acquisitions & co-productions at UKTV.

She also served as a creative executive across scripted and non-scripted pre-investments, growing UKTV’s exclusive programming via international co-productions with both domestic and international partners, including Shaftesbury. Previously, she held positions at Channel 4 and the BBC.

Vien said the duo’s appointment came “at a time when co-productions are growing in global appeal,” and with A+E “poised to play a leadership role in the industry.”

A+E’s output of late has included Miss Scarlet And The Duke, originally for PBS Masterpiece and UKTV’s Alibi, as well as Red Election for Disney+ and North Sea Connection for the BBC.