ITV America Names Brent Montgomery as CEO, Outlines New Structure

LONDON: Brent Montgomery, the founder and current CEO of Leftfield Entertainment, has been appointed CEO of ITV America, renamed from ITV Studios US Group.

All of ITV’s U.S. businesses will become part of ITV America, including ITV Studios America, which will be rebranded as ITV Entertainment. All of ITV’s other U.S. businesses—Leftfield Pictures, Sirens Media, Outpost Entertainment, Loud TV, Riot Creative, Thinkfactory Media, High Noon Entertainment, DiGa and Gurney Productions—will continue to produce under their current labels and with their existing management teams under the ITV America umbrella.

Under the new structure, Montgomery will report to Kevin Lygo, the managing director of ITV Studios, as will Philippe Maigret, the president of ITV America’s scripted business. Maigret will work closely with Montgomery from an operational perspective. ITV America’s scripted business will be branded ITV Studios America.

Adam Sher will serve as chief creative officer of ITV America, Chris Valentini becomes chief operating officer of ITV America, and David George serves as chief executive officer of Leftfield Entertainment. Ed Simpson transitions from Leftfield Entertainment to become executive VP of business development and international at ITV America. Montgomery, Valentini, George and Simpson all remain based in New York, with Sher continuing to operate out of Los Angeles.

Lygo said: “ITV has gone from strength to strength in the U.S. over the last few years both organically and through acquisition and is now the biggest unscripted indie in the U.S. Bringing all our U.S. production businesses together, ITV America will build on this success as we take our U.S. operations to the next level and continue to build a global content business of scale.”

Lygo added: “ITV made a major investment last year in Leftfield Entertainment, a testament to the talent, skill, vision and success of Brent Montgomery and his team. Brent’s creative expertise and management prowess ultimately built Leftfield into a producing powerhouse now known for creating programming across nearly every genre of unscripted television. In the current marketplace it’s essential that we monetize creative across all platforms and territories, while servicing buyers and markets with content that delivers for their respective brands and audiences. We also must employ the flexibility to navigate emerging distribution opportunities, while remaining willing to take creative risks. We are confident that under Brent’s leadership ITV America will meet these challenges, broadening even further into exciting new arenas of media and entertainment.

“In the last year Brent has continued to expand Leftfield’s production slate and develop the talented team who work with him. It’s now the right time for him to take the helm of ITV America and guide the group to our next stage of growth. With Philippe Maigret leading our U.S. drama business we continue to make strides in our strategy to build scale in both scripted and unscripted.”

Montgomery commented: “I’m humbled and beyond excited to join ITV at a time in our business when the integration of creativity, diversity, innovation and fiscal responsibility has never been more critical. I consider my greatest accomplishment at Leftfield to have amassed a team of some of the most talented producers and executives in our business, who worked with dedication and collaboration in an environment that allowed creatives to do what they do best: work with laser focus on development and building talent. That’s what has grown our partnerships with buyers across all company disciplines. I look forward to delivering on that strategy for ITV, and to expanding the company’s footprint as we broach the next chapter together.”