Half Yard Taps HISTORY Alum Dirk Hoogstra

Red Arrow Studios’ Half Yard Productions has hired Dirk Hoogstra to join the company as executive VP of development.

Hoogstra will work closely with Half Yard’s recently promoted chief creative officer, Nicole Sorrenti, and VP of development, Matt Ayres. Hoogstra has been in the media industry for 23 years, holding a number of senior positions, including serving as executive VP and general manager of HISTORY. During his run at the network, he developed and oversaw scripted and unscripted series such as American Pickers, Counting Cars, Mountain Men, Top Gear, Hatfields & McCoys, The Bible and Vikings.

Sean Gallagher, CEO of Half Yard Productions, said: “We’re thrilled to bring Dirk in to the Half Yard fold. Dirk and I worked together for many years at Discovery and TLC, developing hit series such as American Chopper, Dirty Jobs and Little People, Big World. We’ve had a lot of success together, and I wanted to bring that creative chemistry over to Half Yard.”

Sorrenti said: “Dirk will be a great addition to our team. He brings a ton of experience and is focused on ramping up our development pipeline. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Hoogstra added: “I’m thrilled to be getting the band back together with Sean. He’s built a strong creative team, and we’re going to be moving quickly to build on Half Yard’s already impressive stable of hit series.”