EXCLUSIVE: Grey Seal Media, the UK-based consultancy whose clients include A24 and Anonymous Content, has made a pair of hires in Sara Durante and Mair Williams.
Durante has been named Head of Business Operations at the specialist advisory, which bridges the film and TV worlds with those in finance and the wider corporate world. Mair Williams is joining as Head of Legal, Governance and Risk.
Durante is well known in TV and film circles in London, LA and Italy as a former exec at Banijay predecessor Zodiak Media, Paramount Pictures and Lookout Point. She joins from The Story Collective, one of the companies behind Steven Knight’s upcoming Disney+ and Hulu period drama A Thousand Blows.
She had helped with Story Collective’s launch in 2019, supporting and integrating its investing companies such as Artis Pictures, Mighty Pebble Pictures and Maia Pictures. As such, she’s built a wraparound skillset that allows her to provide operational support to emerging production companies that need additional help on a project basis or do not yet require full-time exec hires.
“I have always loved supporting creative people, enabling them to focus on storytelling whilst I manage everything else,” said Durante. “I have hit the ground running handling aspects for Grey Seal clients in a more cost-effective way than was previously possible, and I am delighted by the prospect of working as the company engine for multiple clients alongside the impressive Grey Seal team.”
Williams, meanwhile, has 15 years’ experience in investigations and dispute resolution, is qualified in both the UK and U.S. and is an accredited mediator. This allows her to advise on issues such as misconduct allegations, sexual harassment, cuber issues, criminal allegations and litigation.
“it is a pivotal time to be joining Grey Seal and focusing my expertise in this sector,” said Williams. “The most efficient way for media companies to avoid becoming the next tabloid headline is to have systems in place that prevent wrongdoing. I hope that most of my time is spent helping clients do just that, but when needed, I am also ready to help put out the fire.”
Grey Seal founder Clare Hardwick said Durante’s “ability to take on operations support autonomously means that she can free up time and save money for our clients in areas that they perhaps hadn’t even considered,” while Williams “has a way of cutting through daunting business-critical issues with scalpel precision, making them not only manageable but empowering for our clients.”
“The combination of Sara’s skills in the smooth running of the day-to-day operations and Mair’s expertise when things get more complex is a unique and potent offering,” she added.
Grey Seal is currently working with A24 and Anonymous Content and the team behind Ellen Kuras film Lee, on which Hardwick was an executive producer.
The company also worked on financial arrangements and with the Reeve Estate over the doc Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which opens in theatres in the UK this week. It is also co-running Thousand Films, the ope submission platform for underrepresented writers that discovered Disney+’s comedy Extraordinary, and has an affiliated music label, iXi Records.
