Louis Theroux development exec Dan Louw and Objective’s Debi Roach have joined Vice as the youth media brand beefs up its production team ahead of the launch of its linear channel.

Viceland

Vice has brought Louw in as vice president of development, UK, while Roach has joined as vice president of TV production for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Louw was previously head of development for BBC’s in-house documentary division, where he worked on a number of Theroux films, BBC1 police series The Met and BBC3’s Life and Death Row.

In his new role, he will oversee development of linear shows for Viceland UK, which launches on Sky in September.

Roach was previously head of production at Objective Productions, where she worked on comedies including Peep Show and Fresh Meat. She also has entertainment credits including The Cube and Derren Brown Apocalypse. She will oversee production for Vice’s originals across Europe.

The company has also hired former MTV and Sky executive Cam Levin as vice president of brand, EMEA. Levin, who previously rebranded Sky 1 and worked on events such as the MTV Europe Music Awards, will be in charge of the brand aspects of the Viceland channel.

Vice chief executive Shane Smith told Broadcast earlier this year that it was planning to double the size of Vice’s Shoreditch-based production team.

“We believe it drives more value if we have these production capabilities in-house so you can leverage into mobile and online,” said chief executive and cofounder Shane Smith. “If you buy shows from outside producers, you then become a slave to that production house.”

Arjan Hoekstra, Viceland general manager EMEA, who joined earlier this year from Discovery Networks Asia Pacific, said: “As we develop and grow Viceland into an international operation across the region, we are assembling a world class team based out of our London studio.

“Debi, Cam and Dan all bring extremely diverse but rich experiences across their respective fields – what binds them, is an innate understanding of Vice’s brand and programming, which will ensure our production, development and activation teams are operating at the vanguard of creative excellence.” 

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