EXCLUSIVE: With Mipcom on the horizon, Sweden’s Eccho Rights is building out its sales team by hiring well-respected exec Tess Charman.
The Stockholm-based distributor has named former Warner Bros International Television Production, eOne, MGM and Avalon exec Charman as its Director of Sales for Continental Europe.
Starting on September 1, Charman will take on European and pan-regional sales (excluding Iberia), focusing on Eccho’s slate of English- and Nordic-language titles. Eccho’s slate includes BBC drama Granite Harbour, Swedish series As Long As We Live and Viaplay show Honour. She’ll work out of Eccho’s London office.
Charman has worked in international distribution for several major UK and US entertainment businesses. She was most recently VP of EMEA for Avalon Distribution, the sales arm of UK management and production biz Avalon, and held senior sales roles at eOne, MGM and Warner Bros.
She’s joining a sales house that’s now part of Germany’s Night Train Media, which acquired Eccho from Korea’s CJ ENM last year. The deal kept Eccho — which has offices in Stockholm, Istanbul, London, Madrid and Seoul — independent, with af Malmborg staying as CEO and Night Train’s Herbert L. Kloiber becoming Chairman. At the same time, Eccho co-founder Nicola Söderlund retired.
Since the sale, Eccho has looked to expand its catalog of English-language titles alongside Night Train, which has separately been investing heavily in content such as BBC and Netflix drama Lockerbie.
A slate of new series is set to launch in the coming year as Eccho also pushes into international co-productions through UK-based exec Adam Barth, with the model seeing multiple broadcasters and streamers boarding projects at development stage. Charman’s experience will help connect Eccho’s projects and finished tape with key buyers.
”We are very pleased to expand our sales team with one of the most qualified professionals in our industry who has hands-on experience growing sales of scripted content into major European territories,” said Fredrik af Malmborg, CEO of Eccho Rights.
”I’m delighted to join Eccho Rights, especially during such an exciting period of growth for the company,” said Charman. “I am looking forward to working closely with the UK and International teams and representing the growing slate of drama projects throughout Europe.”
Outside of its English-language shows, Eccho has a reputation as one of the key sellers of lucrative Turkish-language scripted programs, shopping the likes of Cennet, Conspiracy of Silence, Elif and Ezel. Its also sells Servant of the People, the Ukrainian comedy starring Volodymyr Zelenskyy that prophetically cast him as President of the country before his move into politics.
Charman’s hire comes less than two months before Mipcom Cannes, the international TV biz’s biggest sales market.