Passion Pictures picks Cathal McElhinney as documentary team development head

London-based production company Passion Pictures has hired Cathal McElhinney as head of development for Passion Docs to expand the company’s factual slate.

Cathal McElhinney

McElhinney joins from fellow London-based firm Box To Box Films, where he was a development executive. His recent credits include Make or Break (Apple TV+) and a forthcoming four-part series focusing on fugitive businessman Carlos Ghosn, as well as a behind-the-scenes series about the PGA and ATP golf tours.

Prior to Box To Box, McElhinney was at Raw TV, another London prodco, where he worked on Fear City and Bad Sport for Netflix.

Passion Pictures was founded by Andrew Ruhemann in 1987. Passion Docs, its full-service documentary production studio, is led by David Moulton as creative director.

Passion Docs’ recent credits include The Real Charlie Chaplin and The Rescue, while Passion Planet (another division of Passion Pictures) and Passion-backed Keo Films are behind My Garden of a Thousand Bees and Lucy the Human Chimp respectively.

Moulton said: “We are excited to welcome Cathal to Passion Docs during a period rapid expansion within the department. Cathal is a talented developer and brings a wealth of rich storytelling experience to the team, and he will be instrumental in building and developing our ambitious premium slate of series and single docs.”