FirstLookTV, the longest established indie production company in the Midlands, today announces a triad of senior hires in a new growth strategy aimed at capitalising on its US and UK True Crime hits, Meet Marry Murder, My Lover My Killer and #Dead2Me.

FirstLookTV, which has again secured a place in Televisual’s Top 100 indies this year, has appointed Lucy Middelboe as Head of Business, Andie Clare as Director of Production, and Rachel Bowering as Creative lead on Development. The appointments form part of FirstLookTV’s business development strategy, which will primarily focus on new and existing production development, social media and international collaborations.

Formerly director of Commercial & Finance at Icon, Lucy Middelboe joins FirstLook’s business leadership department to strengthen the indie’s existing Co-Productions and pre-sale collaborations, as well as establish new partnerships in both the True Crime and History and Natural History genres. The role will also see Middelboe steer the social content strategy including branching out into podcasts, direct-to-consumer content via YouTube and emerging platforms.

Also joining from Icon Films is new Director of Production Andie Clare, whose slate will include over 70 hours of productions already in place for 2024, with a further 20 hours in advanced development.

Both Middelboe and Clare will work on a Non-Exclusive basis, with an expectation of greater leadership roles in coming months.

Meanwhile, heading up FirstLookTV’s Creative Development ambitions, ex BBC Midlands senior, Rachel Bowering, will be armed with a fund to curate and invest in projects which the company feels respond to the changing Content market.

An announcement is also due soon on a new Development lead in the USA.

Will Hanrahan, founder of FirstLookTV, says, “We’ve delivered over 300 hours of content from our Midlands base using innovative business approaches with our partners. Now with significant increased revenues from our overseas licence sales, we feel confident that it’s the right time to take advantage of UK broadcaster’s stated aim to invigorate Midlands-originated content. Meanwhile the continuing success of our production models mean we can add factual genres to our existing slate. We have wanted to recruit major industry hitters to cope with our increased output and in Lucy, Andie and Rachel we believe we have.”

Lucy Middelboe, Head of Business at FirstLookTV comments “I’m thrilled to be part of such an ambitious and creative company, leading the way with new funding models and production workflows. FirstLookTV delivers great content at attractive price points which is exactly what the market needs.”

Andie Clare, Director of Production, adds, “It is an exciting time to be joining forces with the talented and innovative team at FirstLookTV. I am looking forward to continuing the investment in production talent in the region to deliver distinct and authentic content”.

Rachel Bowering, Head of Creative Development, continues, “I couldn’t be more excited to join FirstLookTV and be part of this nimble, talented team that proudly represents TV production in the Midlands. This is an incredible opportunity to fuel the creative spark right from the heart of the country, unearthing and nurturing exciting content that will captivate audiences across the world.”