Red chief executive departs

StudioCanal has installed a temporary leadership duo at Red Production Company following the departure of chief executive Sarah Doole.

StudioCanal UK chief executive Alex Hamilton and production chief Françoise Guyonnet will steer Red through the transition process.

Doole stood down after 18 months to focus on her new talent incubator Sow the Seed. She was the second chief executive in the Manchester-based drama producer’s history, having taken over from founder Nicola Shindler, who left to set up ITV Studios-backed Quay Street Productions in 2020.

In her time at Red, Doole hired head of development Chloe Dunbar and head of production Margaret Conway and delivered existing commissions such as Netflix’s Stay Close and ITV’s No Return, as well as overseeing Amazon Prime’s upcoming Anansi Boys and series two of ITV’s Finding Alice.

Doole was previously global drama director at Fremantle, and prior to that was creative director of drama and head of indie drama at BBC Studios.

Before taking on the Red, she was establishing Sow the Seed, which she is now running full-time.

Sow the Seed is an incubator company focusing on new talent and under-represented voices across scripted and unscripted genres in TV, podcasts, music, literature, art and fashion.