Distribution company The Orchard has just promoted Paul Davidson to Exec VP Film and TV, reporting to CEO Brad Navin. Davidson has been at the company for two years overseeing acquisition, distribution, marketing and strategy.
During his tenure, Davidson has overseen the acquisition and release of hundreds of films, including Academy Award-nominated Best Documentary feature Cartel Land, Sundance fave The Overnight, Dior & I and What We Do in the Shadows. At Sundance, Orchard acquired buzzed-about films Life, Animated, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Christine and All These Sleepless Nights.
“Since Paul has joined the company, The Orchard has realized its goal of establishing transparent and effective end-to-end film distribution,” Navin said in making the announcement. “We had a vision to mirror what we have done with our global music distribution platform and world class services to fill a gap within the film industry. Paul has seized this opportunity and expanded on our vision. The results have been remarkable and his leadership has been instrumental to our success.”
Prior to joining The Orchard, Davidson led Microsoft’s Xbox Video service, establishing it as a major player in the digital arena. He oversaw the financial and operational strategy of the service, growing the business across game consoles, Windows devices and throughout the web, and supervising the global EST and VOD business for studios, networks and content aggregators.
Davidson previously produced series for Fox, ABC and MTV and worked in theatrical distribution and production for New Line Cinema and The Jim Henson Company.
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