Eyre rejoins Stehmeier with Factory job

Georgie Eyre has reunited with former Off the Fence colleague Bo Stehmeier at lifestyle sports and culture content group Factory Media.

She has taken the new post of head of acquisitions at The Rights Factory, which is the newly-christened sales arm of Factory.

Eyre left Amsterdam- and London-based producer-distributor Off the Fence along with Stehmeier in July, and the departures triggered a restructure at her former firm. At OTF she was also head of acquisitions, while Stehmeier was managing director, distribution, and is now Factory’s director of rights and distribution.

Eyre, who has also worked at the BBC Natural History unit, and was also worked at the now-defunct Target Entertainment before OTF. Her arrival marks Stehmeier’s first since taking on his new role.

She will be responsible for negotiating acquisition agreements with producers, broadcasters and brands. Factory wants her to supply “a steady flow of formats, archive material, talent, publishing rights and finished programming”, and she will oversee a budget earmarked for straight commissions.

“The glue that connects content, audiences and brands are rights and distribution, and Georgie has been brought in to acquire as many of those rights as possible,” said Stehmeier.

“When you’re innovating and creating deals that don’t conform to a template, you need a dynamic, proactive but safe pair of hands that understands the importance of ROI at every step of the way. Georgie is that person.”

Eyre added she was “looking for big ideas that are strong enough to be migrated across platforms, brands and formats”.

Factory, which has offices in UK and Germany is part of the Forwards Internet Group. Created in 2006, it now produces and distributes, runs YouTube channels and has 27 brands.