Arrested Industries hires former Discovery, NENT execs as senior VPs

Anthony Kimble’s UK- and US-based content development and financing outfit Arrested Industries has hired former Discovery exec Judy Levenson and former NENT exec Mette Kanne-Behrendsen as senior vice-presidents.

Judy Levenson

Levenson, who will be based in the US, joins as senior VP of sales, overseeing unscripted and scripted content sales in North America, while UK-based Kanne-Behrendsen becomes Arrested’s senior VP of acquisitions, focusing on unscripted content.

Levenson joins Arrested from consulting firm Leverage Media, where she was principal of content development and brand partnerships.

Prior to Leverage Media, she worked as director of business development and brand partnerships at Litton Entertainment and as VP of content development and coproductions at Scott Brothers Entertainment.

Levenson also held senior positions at Discovery, where she was a director at the American Heroes Channel and at National Geographic Channel, where she was an associate director of development and coproductions.

Kanne-Behrendsen joins Arrested from Nent Studios UK, where she was SVP of acquisitions until it was acquired by All3Media last month.

Mette Kanne-Behrendsen

Prior to her nearly five years with Nent, Kanne-Behrendsen was VP of acquisitions at Off the Fence and before that spent more than a decade at Modern Times Group, latterly as director of pay TV channels.

At the Modern Times Group, Kanne-Behrendsen was responsible for a large portfolio that included the Viasat History, Crime and Nature channel brands.

Former Cineflix exec Kimble founded Fugitive in March 2019, rebranding it in April as Arrested Industries.

In addition to the new name, Kimble also established an LA-based office, which he runs as CEO of scripted.

Merrily Ross, CEO unscripted of Arrested Industries, said: “We are still a relatively new business, so are absolutely thrilled to have attracted two such experienced, well-connected and popular senior executives as Mette and Judy.

“Mette has excellent relationships with factual producers around the world and will be instrumental in helping us build our unscripted programme catalogue, working alongside co-CEO Anthony Kimble, who is responsible for new scripted content.

“Judy, meanwhile, will bring her energy and local expertise to bear in North America, finding new homes for all our shows, as well as supporting Anthony on the ground as he establishes our American office over the coming months.”