Ex-WME television chief joins TV4

Former William Morris Endeavor television co-chief Mark Itkin has joined emerging digital content business TV4 Entertainment as a senior advisor.

Itkin is best known for a three-decade career as an agent in Hollywood, and packaged shows such as Deal or No Deal, Project Runway and The Real World for TV. He is considered a driving force behind the international expansion of unscripted programming and has brokered several significant deals.

He has now been hired as advisor at TV4, which is the LA-based digital business former Hulu chief Jon Cody launched in 2012. He also becomes a board member.

Itkin will work with Cody and other senior TV4 execs as the company moves further into original programming and bolsters its 30-strong portfolio of owned-and-operated, OTT channels such as All Warrior Network, DocCom TV and Motorland TV.

His role will see him package original series, feature films and special events, and funnel new OTT channel opportunities into TV4’s globally targeted networks. He described TV4’s model as “the future of content creation and distribution,”.

Cody is in Cannes this week at MIPTV, and told TBI the hire would allow TV4 to move on “to the next stage of our development”.

So far, the privately owned firm has received backing from the likes of Warner Bros.

This comes soon after TV4 struck a deal with All3Media International, an agreement TBI exclusively revealed news of earlier this year.

Itkin was agent to Katy Davis, who oversaw production of The Oprah Winfrey Show and is now head of aspiration channel and original programming for TV4.

“Mark Itkin is an innovator and a Hollywood institution who has always been at the forefront of the television industry,” said Cody, who is a former Fox exec and FCC chairman.

“As digital migration engulfs the traditional television and film industries, we are incredibly fortunate to lock arms with Mark Itkin to drive the future.”
Itkin had left his role as co-head of television at WME in 2015 after a 34-year career in entertainment.

“I was fortunate and proud to walk away when I did, knowing I had contributed to and been in the front row for major television milestones,” said Itkin.

“Today, I am just as excited to join Jon Cody and team as a senior advisor as I see the passion and hunger that TV4 Entertainment has to continue to drive the future of the industry and I am honored to have a hand in helping the company as we shape that next generation of television.”

Since exiting WME, Itkin has become a board member of Tom Forman’s new company, Critical Content, which was born out of Relativity Television.