Sky Studios appoints Gabriel Silver as Director of Commissioning for Drama
Sky Studios appoints Gabriel Silver as Director of Commissioning for Drama
Sky Studios has today announced the appointment of Gabriel Silver as Director of Commissioning, Drama in the UK, overseeing a broad slate of bold and ambitious projects.
Currently Senior Commissioning Editor and Executive Producer at Sky Studios, Silver takes up his new role with immediate effect, reporting into Chief Content Officer Jane Millichip.
Most recently Silver has overseen a slate of critically acclaimed Sky Original dramas including Emmy and BAFTA-winning series Chernobyl and global smash hit Gangs of London, plus returning franchises Temple, Britannia and COBRA. He is currently Exec Producing upcoming Sky Original dramas Extinction, starring Paapa Essiedu and The Baby, a co-production between Sky and HBO.
Prior to joining Sky in 2017, Silver worked at a range of indies including as a Development and Executive Producer at Left Bank Pictures and at Kudos where he script edited seminal BBC series Spooks and Life on Mars. Silver also produced the first series of Clique for Balloon Entertainment/BBC Studios and developed the climactic series Waking the Dead for the BBC.
In his new role, Silver is tasked with growing the slate of indie-commissioned drama projects for Sky Studios, Sky’s development and production arm across Europe. With a particular focus on commissioning content for Sky UK, Silver will work closely with Zai Bennett, MD of Content at Sky UK, with projects jointly greenlit by both Sky Studios and Sky UK.
The appointment comes as Sky continues to double its investment in original content by 2024, and lays foundations for Sky Studios Elstree – a new, dedicated state of the art film and TV studio set to open in 2022.
Gabriel Silver, Director of Commissioning, Drama, Sky Studios, said: “Sky Drama has never been more bold or ambitious than it is today. Over the next 18 months, we’re looking towards a fantastic slate of shows, including at least a dozen new original series or mini-series, all of which aim to push the parameters of what’s considered a Sky drama - to be truly distinctive whilst retaining a core sense of entertainment.
“Thanks to Cameron Roach and the whole drama team, Sky Original dramas have gone from strength to strength, breaking viewing records, winning critical acclaim and finding fans at home and abroad. The UK has some of the best creative talent both on-screen and off, and I am thrilled to lead Sky Drama through this next phase as we continue partnering with our world-leading indie community to bring viewers even more new, original content they wouldn’t find anywhere else. ”
Jane Millichip, Chief Content Officer, Sky Studios, said: “Gabriel has an impeccable track-record of delivering shows that encapsulate the creative ambition of Sky Studios. From Chernobyl to Gangs of London, he has strong instincts in identifying, developing and delivering bold, original content and is well respected as a creative partner by the independent production community.”
Silver’s team includes Commissioning Editors Manpreet Dosanjh, Paul Gilbert and Liz Lewin. In addition to increasing its investment with indies, Sky Studios also plans to move further into in-house production following the success of RTS-winning Sky Original The Third Day, the first in-house production from Sky Studios.
Notes to Editors
Media Contact
Harrison.Kelly@sky.uk / +44 (0) 7817476365
Biography
Gabriel Silver is Director of Commissioning, Drama at Sky Studios, Sky’s development and production arm. Gabriel joined Sky in 2017 as an Executive Producer before becoming Commissioning Editor. He has overseen a slate of award-winning Sky Originals including global hits Chernobyl and Gangs of London, as well as returning franchises COBRA, Britannia and Temple. He is currently Exec Producing upcoming Sky Original dramas Extinction, starring Paapa Essiedu and The Baby, a co-production between Sky and HBO.
He started his career in factual entertainment, working as a film researcher on music documentaries and managing the pre-game entertainment at Arsenal football club. Following his passion for drama, he script edited for LWT studios, then at Kudos on Life on Mars, Spooks and The Fixer. He started his production career on the Miss Marple films for Granada/Mammoth Screen and developed the climactic series of Waking the Dead for BBC One, before going to Left Bank Pictures where he developed the Sky/Cinemax series Strike Back and worked as an Executive Producer.
Since then he has developed several projects for Scott Free, produced the first series of Clique for Balloon Entertainment/BBC Studios, and joined Sky as an Executive Producer in 2017.
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).
Sky Studios launched in June 2019. The senior leadership team is Chief Executive Officer Gary Davey, Chief Content Officer Jane Millichip, Chief Operating Officer Caroline Cooper, Director of Commissioning, Drama Gabriel Silver, Director of Comedy UK Jon Mountague, Director Original Production Sky Italia Nils Hartmann, and Director Original Productions Sky Deutschland Marcus Ammon.
About Sky
Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 24 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news and arts including our own award-winning original content.
Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love – with entertainment from Sky TV, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer, and apps like Spotify, YouTube, BBC Sounds, Highbrow, Fiit, and more, in one place, easy. Our streaming service NOW, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.
Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Bulletproof and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in between. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which will open in 2022, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years.
We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.
