Fifth Season hires former Number 9 Films, Paramount exec Kate Laffey as senior VP of acquisitions

LA- and London-based studio Fifth Season has hired former Number 9 Films and Paramount exec Kate Laffey as senior VP of acquisitions.

Kate Laffey

Reporting to exec VP of television distribution Jennifer Ebell, Laffey will be responsible for overseeing the company’s global acquisition strategy including the London-based acquisition team led by executive director of acquisitions Liz Tang.

Laffey joins Fifth Season from Number 9 Films, where she was head of TV and responsible for accelerating the company’s TV development slate in the UK and international market.

Prior to that, she spent four years at Paramount heading up the International TV studio, where she oversaw expansion of the UK and European scripted originals pipeline for Paramount+, working on shows such as The Gold, A Gentleman in Moscow and The Flatshare.

Laffey was also previously at Cineflix Rights for more than seven years, serving as VP of acquisitions across scripted and unscripted, with additional previous roles including senior scripted acquisitions executive at ITV Studios.