Sabina Smitham has joined Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin’s Blueprint Pictures, the producer of “Banshees of Inisherin,” as head of development.
Reporting to head of film, Ben Knight, the new role will see Smitham manage the company’s development team and take the lead on expanding the company’s development slate.
Smitham, an alumnus of the U.K.’s prestigious National Film and Television School’s master in producing program, joins from Disney+, where she oversaw the development of a range of projects for the Europe, Middle East and Africa Original Productions team. Prior to Disney she was a development producer at Faye Ward’s Fable Pictures.
To support the expansion of the slate, development executive Martha Hood has been promoted to senior development executive with immediate effect.
Blueprint’s upcoming releases include “Strangers” for Searchlight Pictures, written and directed by Andrew Haigh, and starring Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell; and “Wicked Little Letters” for Studiocanal, written by Jonny Sweet, directed by Thea Sharrock, and starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley.
Knight said: “We can’t wait for Sabina to join us at Blueprint Pictures. She has exceptional taste and brings with her a real passion for stories and cinema. Sabina joins us at an exciting time for Blueprint, and will be indispensable as we continue to grow the company, and Blueprint’s film slate, and aim to work with even more brilliant writers and directors in the U.K. and worldwide.”
Smitham said: “It’s an absolute privilege to be joining the team at Blueprint – their passion and creativity is inspiring, and reflected in the beautiful films they make. I’m looking forward to building on their seriously exciting slate, shaping creative strategy, and empowering writers and directors to bring their ideas to life.”
Blueprint’s films and television shows have been nominated for 19 Academy Awards, and won two, and been nominated for 27 BAFTAs, and won 10.
Blueprint’s film and television productions include “A Boy Called Christmas,” “Emma,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,” “Missouri,” “A Very British Scandal,” “A Very English Scandal,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “In Bruges.”
Blueprint released two films in 2022, including Blueprint’s fourth collaboration with Martin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin,” winner of four BAFTAs, nominated for nine Academy Awards, and Laure de Clermont Tonnerre’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” starring Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell.
This year will see Blueprint release three films: “Strangers,” “Wicked Little Letters” and Sharrock’s “The Beautiful Game,” starring Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward.
