Michele Wolkoff and Ian Spence take on expanded remits, with alums from Bad Wolf and NBCUniversal also joining
The Night Manager producer The Ink Factory is reshuffling its senior ranks with new roles for Michele Wolkoff and Ian Spence, and the addition of a former NBC Universal International Studios exec.
Creative director Wolkoff takes on the newly created role of president and chief creative officer for the company, with Spence named chief financial and operating officer.
Wolkoff will oversee all creative strategy and build out the company’s slate, while Spence leads all business affairs, financial and operational support functions. The duo remain based out the London HQ.
Other changes include Simon Cornwell becoming executive chairman, succeeding Rod Henwood, who remains on the board and becomes deputy chairman.
Fellow co-founder Stephen Cornwell becomes creative co-chairman, focusing on strategic support and his work showrunning Legacy of Spies, which he is co-writing alongside partner Clarissa Ingram.
Incomings
New to the team are former NBCUIS and Vertigo Films exec Laura Burrows, who is now head of production across the company’s slate, and Bad Wolf alum Lachlan MacKinnon. She becomes EP across The Ink Factory’s slate, while Sam Costin has been promoted to a new role as creative producer.
Amy Basil, formerly of EY Studio+ and Mubi, is also returning to the company as chief marketing officer, taking on a dual role across both The Ink Factory and The John le Carré Estate.
The rejig follows the much-vaunted return of The Night Manager after a decade, and with production recently completed on the adaptation of le Carré’s George Smiley novels, Legacy of Spies, for the BBC and MGM+.
The label is also adapting C Pam Zhang’s debut novel How Much of These Hills is Gold, produced in partnership with 127 Wall Productions, Likely Story and Fifth Season, and on a Chinese language re-imagining of The Night Manager – produced in partnership with 127 Wall – for Chinese streamer Youku.
Simon Cornwell and Stephen Cornwell, founders at The Ink Factory, said: “Over 16 years and counting, we have been custodians of both our father’s legacy through the adaptations The Ink Factory has made, as well as realising an array of work from the most compelling storytellers and filmmakers working today.
“We’re exhilarated by the possibilities that lie ahead and the opportunities for Michele and Ian – vital members of the Ink Factory family for many years now – to work alongside us as we continue to guide the direction of our future and broaden our scope and slate. We are also delighted to welcome Laura and Lachlan, and the returning Amy, to the team as we enter the next era of Ink.”
Wolkoff added: “It is a unique privilege to take on this role at such an important moment for Ink Factory and to help shape the company’s next chapter. What John le Carré built is a world of ideas, attitudes, incredible characters, and tradecraft – through stories which artfully balance being both thrilling entertainment and a deep interrogation of the important questions of our time.
“I am excited to continue exploring that world, in ways that expand what we understand adaptation to be.”
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