October hires from Channel 5, staffs up

UK prodco October Films has made a two hires and appointed a new head of factual.

It has brought in David Arrowsmith from Channel 5 and Josh Wilkins from Discovery, and upped Jos Cushing from within its ranks.

Arrowsmith (left) will head up development in the UK, having launched the in-house development and production unit at Channel 5. That division now produces about 100 hours a year for the Viacom-owned terrestrial including Tribal Teens, Heists, Conspiracy and Benefits Britain.

Prior to Channel 5, Arrowsmith was at ITN Productions. At October he reports to creative director Matt Robins.

Wilkins joins from Discovery and before that was at Nutopia where his credits included Mankind: The Story of Us. He reports to director of production and operations Jane Manning.

Cushing’s role as head of factual, UK, is a new one within October and will see him oversee production of series for UK and US nets.

“In the past year October has doubled its turnover for the second year running; doubled the number of hours it produced; and significantly increased both its UK and US client base,” said Denman Rooke, executive chairman of October Films.

“This level of growth needs to be supported by talented senior executives, and we are fortunate to have attracted such able people to these three new roles. David and Jos are key to our strategy for growing our creative strength in our core UK market, and Josh brings a wealth of experience to our US operations.”