Icon appoints Erica Motley as acquisitions consultant

Her appointment is one of Icon’s first moves since it was acquired by New York-based Access Industries last November.  She will work closely with Chloe Sizer, head of development, and Toby Hill, head of UK acquisitions, to acquire new projects for international sales.

Motley previously worked with Till at United International Pictures, where she was vice-president of international acquisitions when Till was chief executive. At UIP, she was part of a worldwide distribution team and involved in such projects Elite Squad, Torrente3 and Old Boy.

Commenting on her appointment, Till said: “She has fantastic relations with the US filmmaking community and will be a great asset to the company. In her role she will be the point of contact for all US-based producers, agents and financiers.”

Motley began her film career as an international acquisition executive at HBO. She later joined Fox, where she launched channels and negotiated deals with film studios, international sales agents and independent producers. She has also held positions at Bertelsmann and Shine Entertainment, where she was head of the film group.

Most recently, she has been working as the packaging and distribution consultant for the American Film Company on Robert Redford’s The Conspirator.

Icon Distribution’s current UK slate includes several prominent awards contenders, among them Sam Taylor-Wood’s Nowhere Boy, John Hillcoat’s The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron, Lee Daniels’ drama Precious and Tom Ford’s directorial debut A Single Man, starring Colin Firth. Icon will also shortly be releasing the action thriller Edge of Darkness, directed by Martin Campbell and starring Mel Gibson.