Two former BET executives have been hired by Atlanta’s Swirl Films. Robert Boyd and Tony Strickland will be serving in chief roles reporting to founder and CEO Eric Tomosunas, as first reported by Deadline.
“Swirl Films has ambitious goals for growth over the next year and it’s imperative that we bring on the right leaders with the right experience to work with us to get there,” Tomosunas said. “Robert and Tony are armed with years of diverse experience in both operations and productions of all scales across the globe, and their expertise will be crucial as we continue on this growth path.”
Boyd comes on board as the chief operating officer of Swirl Films, leaving his post as the senior vice president of programming operations at BET Networks. In the past, he was the vice president of studio operations and production sales for Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures.
His Swirl position will entail managing the daily operations and production of live events and entertainment shows.
Strickland, who was vice president of physical production at BET Networks for two years, will oversee alternative and unscripted programming. In his new role, he will be responsible for recruiting new showrunners for music and unscripted specials.
Dubbed “America’s number one urban film production company”, Swirl Films is an independent production hub headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Tomosunas founded the company in 2008, producing films and TV series for Netflix, BET, Lifetime, Hallmark, TV One, Bounce and Reel One, among many others. By 2019, the studio had done so well that it acquired a 100,000 square foot studio.
Some of the services provided include writing, directing, producing, budget and schedule, audio and video editing, and production equipment.
