Twofour54 taps ER founder

Abu Dhabi-based Arabic media funding body Twofour54 Ibtikar has appointed a former Entertainment Rights boss to oversee all the content and IP created by its various investments.

Jane Smith (left) has been named general manager of Ibtikar Commercial, and will be responsible for maximising distribution of all content created by Twofour54 at a regional and international level.

She will play a “pivotal role”, said Twofour54, in developing the commercial proposition of the body’s first project Driver Dan’s Story Train, which was announced last MipTV and will be pitched to international broadcasters during Mipcom.

The Anglo-Arab animated series, produced by UK indie 3Line Media, will debut in the spring of 2010 in the UK on the BBC’s flagship UK preschool children’s channel CBeebies.

“Jane’s appointment represents a major milestone in the development of Twofour54 Ibtikar,” said Wayne Borg, chief operating officer at the government-backed organisation.

“Not only are we able to provide funding and support to fledgling media ventures and creative individuals, we have the ability to truly harness the value of our projects through the commercialisation of content and the IP associated with it.”

Smith quit Entertainment Rights at the end of last year, after the company hit the wall and was taken over by the management team of US firm Classic Media, which Entertainment Rights had acquired in 2006.