The Orchard Promotes Paul Davidson to Executive Vice President
Apr 29, 2016
Los Angeles, CA – April 29, 2016 – The Orchard, the pioneering independent film, music and video distribution company, today announced the promotion of Paul Davidson to executive vice president of film and television. Davidson joined the company in 2014 and oversees the film and TV division, including acquisitions, distribution, marketing and strategy, reporting to CEO Brad Navin.
Under Davidson’s leadership, The Orchard’s film division has seen tremendous growth in a very short time. By leveraging the company’s existing innovative infrastructure and building out the value proposition for filmmakers and their projects from theatrical release through its lifetime, he has been able to very quickly establish the company as a major player in the theatrical and digital space, competitively acquiring films at leading film festivals and attracting the attention of established and emerging filmmakers. During his tenure, Davidson has overseen the acquisition and release of hundreds of films, including Academy Award®-nominated Best Documentary feature “Cartel Land,” Sundance favorite “The Overnight,” “Dior & I” and “What We Do in the Shadows.” The company is also coming off another successful run at Sundance, where The Orchard acquired the critically-acclaimed and buzzed-about films “Life, Animated,” “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” “Christine” and “All These Sleepless Nights.”
In his new position, Davidson will continue to grow The Orchard’s business and position as a forward-thinking and innovative partner distributor, focusing on increasing the theatrical and digital portfolio, developing and supporting relationships with key filmmaking talent, expanding further into international markets and monetizing content on additional platforms and verticals throughout the content’s lifecycle.
“Since Paul has joined the company, The Orchard has realized its goal of establishing transparent and effective end-to-end film distribution,” said Navin. “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.
ABOUT THE ORCHARD
The Orchard is a pioneering independent film, TV and music distribution company that operates in over 25 global markets. The company, founded as a music distributor in 1997, is a groundbreaking leader in the film and television distribution space, known for its innovative technology that provides filmmakers with up-to-the minute trending data and analytics on their projects. The Orchard’s film division has enjoyed such recent successes as the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Cartel Land,” “The Overnight,” “Dior & I” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”