Ex-C4 Rights chief docks in Cove

Fledgling UK production outfit Cove Pictures has appointed the former MD of Channel 4 Rights as its head of international programming and factual.

Paul Sowerbutts

Paul Sowerbutts will oversee the company’s activity in factual programming, having joined from BBC Books, where he has worked since 2011.

Sowerbutts is the former MD of Zodiak Media Group-owned Diverse Productions, while he was also VP of Zodiak West prior to working at Channel 4 Rights.

Cove Pictures is a joint venture between Patrick Milling-Smith and Brian Carmody – co-founders of UK producer Smuggler Inc – and Red Arrow Entertainment.

Red Arrow holds a minority stake in the company, which has offices in London, New York and LA, and distributes its projects internationally.

So far Cove has partnered with Eon Productions, the film and television company run by Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, to develop a number of television shows.

It is led by MD Heather Rabbatts, who said that Sowerbutts’ “extraordinary network” would allow the company to develop its first factual projects.