Sky Studios bolsters its UK Drama Commissioning team with Executive Producer and Head of Development hires

Sky Studios, Sky’s original programming arm across Europe, has bolstered its UK Drama Commissioning team with two new hires: Executive Producer Sam Hoyle and Head of Development Tilly Coulson.  

Hoyle and Coulson both joined Sky Studios last month (February 2022) and report into Gabriel Silver, Director of Commissioning, Drama, Sky Studios.  

In her new role as Executive Producer, Sam Hoyle will develop new projects and oversee all elements of the production process on a range of new and returning dramas, including the recently announced Sky Original, Lockerbie.  

Before joining Sky Studios, Hoyle worked as an Executive Producer at Netflix and prior to that, was Co-Executive Producer on Doctor Who (BBC), when Jodie Whittaker was introduced as The Doctor. Hoyle was also the Associate Producer and Script Executive on all three series of the BAFTA-winning show, Broadchurch (ITV). She has also developed and produced work in VR and immersive storytelling, most notably on the Emmy-nominated Doctor Who: The Runaway (BBC).  

In a new role as Head of Development, Tilly Coulson will spearhead drama development for Sky Studios’ commissioned slate, accelerating existing projects and generating new developments.  

Coulson will act as a key contact for the independent producer community with Sky Studios, alongside working to identify and nurture new and underrepresented writing talent, including overseeing the Sky Table Reads.  

Prior to Sky Studios, Coulson was Senior Development Executive at Working Title Films with credits including Rebecca, King of Thieves and Johnny English Strikes Again.  

Most recently, she developed and served as Executive Producer overseeing production on Lena Dunham’s medieval, coming-of-age comedy, Catherine, Called Birdy (Amazon), and true-life story The Swimmers (Netflix), written by Jack Thorne and Sally El Hosaini.  

The latest hires will further boost Sky Studios’ wider Drama division, which works across both indie-commissioned projects – led by Gabriel Silver – and in-house developed projects – led by newly joined Creative Director, Drama, Preethi Mavahalli.  

Upcoming Sky Original dramas include The Rising, the first series produced entirely in-house by Sky Studios, The Midwich Cuckoos, starring Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley, The Lazarus Project, starring Paapa Essideu, and the season two return of smash-hit Gangs of London, later in 2022.

About Sky Studios

Sky Studios brings to screen unique stories from the very best talent in Europe.

We develop, produce and fund original drama, comedy and documentary for Sky’s 24m customers and beyond. Building on the success of critically-acclaimed Sky Originals including Emmy-winning Chernobyl, Bafta-winning Patrick Melrose and international hits Das Boot, Riviera and Britannia, Sky Studios is the new creative home of Sky Originals, such as The Third Day with Jude Law, I Hate Suzie, co-created by Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper and BAFTA-nominated hit comedy, Brassic.

We’re an agile Studio, seeking out the best untold stories from new voices while working in creative partnership with today’s best writers, producers and on-screen talent to bring viewers stories they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

With commissioning talent and production capability across the UK, Germany and Italy, we understand local tastes across Europe better than anyone else and have plans to more than double our investment in original content by 2024, fully supported and backed by Comcast NBCUniversal.

We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK creative sector in the first five years alone.

Sky Studios invests in the cultural economy and global production sector with equity stakes in several production companies in the UK and the US, including Great British Bake-Off creator Love Productions, and the premier reality crime producer in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, creator of long-running hit Snapped. Sky Studios has invested in high quality factual specialists Blast! Films, True North Productions, and Transistor Films; natural history producer True to Nature; drama producers The Lighthouse and Longboat Pictures; and growth businesses Sugar Films, Chrysalis Vision, and Talos Films (US).