Poison Pen Studios, Ben Stephenson’s ITV Studios-backed trans-Atlantic script production company, has appointed Fern McAuley as head of development. She moves into the new role with immediate effect after serving as head of the company’s Intellectual Property Acquisitions division.
“McAuley will now work with Stevenson across the teams in London and the US to drive the development of UK and US dramas,” the company said.
McAuley’s appointment comes as the studio, which focuses on premium drama in London and Los Angeles, prepares to launch two major new dramas on ITV later this year. Adultery It is described as a “provocative love story drama” starring Dominic Cooper and Romola Garai and written by Danny Brocklehurst. And the serial killer movie Darknessstarring Laura Donnelly, based on J.R. Halliday’s first novel, From the shadowsand was adapted by Matt Hartley.
Prior to her role as head of intellectual property acquisitions at the brand, “where Fern led the strategy for acquiring intellectual property across publishing, podcasting and other media,” she was the first head of media development at Hachette, Poison Pen said. “In this role, she oversaw film and television rights deals as well as intellectual property development across Hodder & Stoughton Publishing, Headline, John Murray Press, Orion Publishing Group, Little Brown, Quercus and Headline Publishing Group. Prior to that, Fern was an associate literary agent at The Artists Partnership, where she worked across an extensive list of book-to-film and screenwriting clients.”
Stevenson, former Controller of Drama Commissioning at the BBC, said: “It’s now been four years on Poison Pen, and with two shows under our belt, I’m excited to have Fern at the helm of development. We already have a development pipeline at FX, HBO, BBC, ITV, Netflix, Amazon and Sky, and I’m looking forward to working with Fern across our UK and US slate to find more poppy, scripted, off-the-shelf series For both markets, Fern is a fantastic series and a brilliant director with impeccable taste, and I’m excited to start this new chapter.
Vern McAuley: “Managing the intellectual property acquisitions for Poison Pen has been an amazing experience, especially seeing our first book-to-TV conversion, Darknesspays off quickly. I’m thrilled to take on the role of Head of Development, to help guide Poison Pen into its next phase. Ben is a wonderful, supportive, fun person to work with and shares my passion for finding bold stories for big audiences. We have a very exciting roster of screenwriters and IP, and I look forward to bringing our projects to television internationally.”
Poison Pen Studios launched in 2022 and is part of ITV Studios’ thriving portfolio of world-class producers across the globe. These include Quay Street Productions, World Productions, Happy Prince, Mammoth Screen, Hartswood Films and Moonage Pictures. While the International Drama Group includes: Cattleya, Plano a Plano, Lingo Pictures, Windlight Pictures, TM Studios, Tetra Media Fiction, Colette Productions, Good Cop, and L’Intruse. ITV Studios is this year’s production group at the Edinburgh Television Festival.
