Nick Hayes is moving from Icon over to Umbrella Entertainment, where he will serve as head of sales and acquisitions from January next year.
Hayes is currently Icon’s head of sales and acquisitions, a role he has held for more than a decade. Prior to, he was head of Dendy Cinemas and has held senior leadership roles at the Sydney Film Festival and Hoyts Cinemas. He has been the vice president of the Australian Independent Distributors Association and served for 12 years as a director of Independent Cinemas Australia.
In his new role, Hayes will have a dedicated focus on rights management for theatrical, VOD and TV in Australia and New Zealand. He will carve out a slate domestic and international titles, continuing Umbrella’s focus on local talent and diverse and original genre content.
“I’m very excited to be joining Ari Harrison and the team at Umbrella. Umbrella have a great track record of supporting independent Australian film and I look forward to bringing these distinct stories to screens across Australia and New Zealand,” Hayes said.
Harrison, Umbrella general manager, said Hayes had a great passion for local storytelling, and had experience that results in effectively finding audiences.
“I’m looking forward to learning from him. He has always been such a pleasure to deal with and we are so excited for him to join the Umbrella team. He fits right in,” he said.