Poison Pen Studios Bolsters London Team

Poison Pen Studios, Ben Stephenson’s ITV Studios-backed transatlantic scripted label, has made three new hires for its London-based team.

Luke Woellhaf joins Poison Pen Studios as director of development. In his previous role at Left Bank Pictures, Woellhaf developed several projects to greenlight, including the ITVX thriller Without Sin, before becoming head of development.

Fern McCauley joins Poison Pen Studios as head of IP of acquisitions, leading the strategy for sourcing IP across publishing, podcasts and gaming. Most recently, McCauley was head of media development at Hachette.

Oluchi Ezeh has been appointed as development coordinator. Ezeh joins from Heyday TV, where she was development assistant.

Preethi Mavahalli, creative director of Poison Pen, said: “It’s so great to have Luke, Fern and Oluchi join us at Poison Pen. Ben and I feel very lucky to have built such a talented, young and inspiring team. We can’t wait to get started and look forward to this adventure together.”

McCauley commented: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Ben and Preethi at Poison Pen Studios. I feel especially lucky to be joining at this early stage and am super excited to add my IP experience to such an incredibly talented and creative team. It’s a dream job, and I can’t wait to see what we will create together.”

Ezeh said: “It’s such a dream to be joining Poison Pen; Ben and Preethi have put together such a wonderful, talented team and I’m so excited by their vision for the company. I can’t wait to help them bring some incredible ideas to the screen.”

Woellhaf added: “I’m so excited and honored to be joining Poison Pen under Ben and Preethi. Their experience on both sides of the Atlantic speaks for itself, and I can’t wait to make fantastic, thrilling and envelope-pushing shows under their exemplary leadership.”