Fremantle US signs former Expectation development head

Fremantle US has added former Expectation development head Emily Knight to its senior leadership team, with ex-Netflix US exec Jhamal Robinson joining in a newly-created role.

As senior vice president of unscripted development, Knight will be charged with building a slate of globally scalable formats. She will report to Jimmy Fox, executive vice president of unscripted development and sales.

Knight joins the super-indie from The Tinder Swindler outfit AGC Studios where she spent three years in senior development roles, latterly as vice president of non-scripted development.

Prior to her time in the US, she held head of development roles at Expectation, Hello Mary and now-shuttered All3Media label Maverick. Her credits include Ex on the Beach, Escape, and reboots of 10 Years Younger and How to Look Good Naked.

She said of her appointment: “Fremantle is synonymous with world-class unscripted television, and the opportunity to work alongside Jimmy is incredible. His creative instincts and appetite for scale align perfectly with how I approach development, and I’m so excited to help build the next generation of standout global formats with the fantastic team here.”

Former senior Netflix US exec Robinson takes the newly-created role of head of US productions, unscripted and scripted.

He will look after the company’s expansive US portfolio of scripted and unscripted programming, including overseeing all aspects of physical production including US productions for the super-indie’s labels Eureka and Original Productions.

Robinson will also lead strategic planning, execution and delivery of premium content across broadcast, streaming and digital platforms. He will report to Fremantle US chief operating officer Suzanne Lopez.

Robinson was most recently executive vice president of physical production and head of AI Studio at A+E Global Media, where he led the physical and post-production teams while integrating emerging technologies across global content portfolios. Prior to that, he was Netflix’s vice president of production management for the US and Canada.

Lopez said: “As our production slate continues to grow in both scale and ambition, it’s essential that our leadership team evolves alongside it. Adding these two exceptional executives to our leadership team will help ensure Fremantle remains at the forefront of delivering groundbreaking programming across every platform.”

The appointments come on the same day that Fremantle’s director of global entertainment Andrew Llinares revealed he would be stepping down to return to producing.