Rod Henwood, a former chief executive of Zodiak Media UK, has joined The Night Manager producer The Ink Factory.
Henwood has been appointed chief strategy officer of the Simon and Stephen Cornwell-run business and will join its board of directors.
He has been hired to develop new and existing projects across a range of platforms in the wake of the £136m investment that The Ink Factory secured in November.
At the time, Simon Cornwell told Broadcast he was considering expanding into new genres with fresh talent, as well as diversifying into VR and theatre.
Henwood will draw on his experience as part of the team responsible for the launch of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter portal Pottermore and the launch of Channel 4’s first on-demand service, the All4 precursor 4oD. Henwood will continue with his recently-unveiled plans to launch IQTV, an SVoD service dedicated to classic quiz shoes including Countdown, The Weakest Link and Mastermind.
Before joining The Ink Factory, Henwood led Zodiak Media in the UK, Benelux and India, including the nine producers owned by the super-indie. He left in November 2016 following its merger with Banijay Group.
The Cornwell brothers, who have two more John le Carre productions in the works to follow up The Night Manager, described Henwood as a “trailblazer”.
“As we continue to rewrite the rules as an independent studio and explore new frontiers of storytelling, we are delighted to have him at our side”, they said.
Henwood added: “The scale of Ink’s ambition matches the opportunities that exist today: to partner with great story-tellers and adapt their works in multiple forms globally, from TV and film, to games and physical experiences – all at a time when premium quality story-telling has never been more highly valued.”