London, February 23rd 2021 – New York and London based business International Literary Properties (ILP) has today announced Hilary Strong as CEO of UK and Europe, extending her former UK role in a move that sees the company position itself as a tour de force within the literary rights industry.
Strong, formerly CEO of Agatha Christie Ltd, will have responsibility for the UK and European acquisition programme, with her remit to acquire the rights in literary estates from those who have inherited them, or from living authors seeking financial certainty from an experienced buyer. She will also have global responsibility for the company’s TV and film exploitation of estates acquired.
The New York-headquartered business is led by literary veteran Scott Hoffman as Global CEO and Executive Chairman Ted Green. Strong works alongside Anthology Group founder, Bob Benton in the UK and Europe, completing an executive team that brings many decades of experience in literary, TV, Film, theatre, music rights management and exploitation.
Strong has a formidable and proven track-record in rights management. In her previous role as CEO for Agatha Christie Ltd, she closed a major deal for over 20 hours of BBC Agatha Christie specials, including the highly acclaimed And Then There Were None, The Pale Horse, ABC Murder and Ordeal by Innocence. During her tenure there, she also completed the ITV Hercule Poirot series and set about transforming the Agatha Christie brand into a modern global multi-platform force in both feature film and television, brokering a deal with Fox that led to her executive producing the hugely successful feature film Murder on the Orient Express, and to a second film, Death on the Nile, due for release shortly.
Last year, the company announced an eight figure multi-estates deal, brokered by Strong, seeing the company acquiring the rights to major literary estates including writers: Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull, George Bellairs, Nicolas Freeling, John Creasey, Michael Innes and a minority stake of Evelyn Waugh’s estate.
This was followed swiftly by the announcement of a major first look deal with BBC Studios, a deal also brokered by Strong, allowing both BBC Studios Production and its portfolio of independent producers the opportunity to explore the intellectual property owned and managed by ILP. This major production partnership deal demonstrates how proactively the company intends to manage its estates, working closely with their agents to provide new opportunities for exploitation across all media platforms. By producing hugely valuable creative bibles for each estate, International Literary Properties is able to provide producers with detailed catalogues highlighting the opportunities they hold for screen adaptation. This highly proactive approach has already resulted in several development deals and will undoubtedly lead to major production deals being announced in the near future.
Strong says, “We have already made some very swift and bold moves within the past twelve months, the success of which has led to expansion of as we maximise global reach. As CEO for UK and Europe, I am looking forward to brokering further deals with estate owners, allowing us to work with them to re-invigorate their intellectual property. I find it intensely satisfying to be able to provide the guardians of these estates with both an up front financial proposition as well as the opportunity for on going relationship with us if that is what they would like. International Literary Properties offers a smart way to empower these estates and enable them to reap financial returns while being supported in the reigniting of interest in the authors and their works.”
Hoffman says, “As International Literary Properties accelerates our pace of literary acquisitions, broadens our licencing programme, and begins to see an increasingly large number of our properties perfectly positioned for film, television, and stage, Hilary’s expanded role will be critical to achieving our strategic goal and expanding our mission to serve as trusted stewards of literary legacies.”
