eOne rejigs EMEA sales as Gopal departs

Transatlantic producer and distributor Entertainment One (eOne) has promoted from within to replace Dan Gopal, its executive VP of sales for EMEA, who is leaving the company at the end of the month.

Spyro Markesinis

Reporting to Stuart Baxter, eOne’s president of international distribution, Spyro Markesinis will lead the regional strategy of the EMEA team.

The team is in charge of sales to broadcasters and OTT platforms for free-to-air, pay TV, SVoD and AVoD from eOne’s slate of original and third-party scripted and non-scripted programming, as well as film content.

Markesinis was previously exec VP of business and legal affairs at eOne, having joined the company in 2013 as head of business and legal affairs for the newly combined distribution operation in the UK.

In 2016, his remit expanded to worldwide film distribution, and the following year he took on additional responsibility for international distribution.

Gopal joined eOne in 2017 from ITV Studios Global Entertainment where he led the commercial team responsible for all TV, digital and home entertainment sales in EMEA, including dealing with global streamers such as Netflix and Amazon.

Prior to that, he worked for The Walt Disney Company and later launched and managed the EMEA distribution business for Miramax after its private equity buy-out from the Mouse House.

C21 understands Gopal’s exit comes ahead of his appointment in a new role outside of eOne, which is yet to be announced.

Baxter said: “We have a strong position in the international market buoyed by recent ground-breaking deals and are thrilled that Spyro will be building on our expansion across EMEA with eOne’s film slate as well as the continued success of our new and returning series.”