Documentary and film production company White Horse Pictures has named Nicholas Ferrall its Chairman and CEO, while founder Nigel Sinclair pivots to a content-focused non-executive chairman role.
Jeanne Elfant Festa, White Horse’s Head of Documentaries & Director of Features, will share Co-President duties with Cassidy Hartmann, a partner at the company and previous Director of Documentary Features at Exclusive Media. In their new roles, they will lead White Horse’s creative content, production and development.
White Horse has also announced a partnership with Ben Murphy of the production studio Whiskey Bear. A longtime collaborator in creative development, Murphy will oversee White Horse’s physical production process. Robert Dietz, an employee of the company since 2018, assumes the position of Vice President of Production.
Together, Ferrall, Elfant Festa, and Hartmann comprise the company’s new Executive Management board, with Sinclair and Murphy participating when necessary.
The reorganization stems from the company’s growth since it was founded in 2014 by Guy East and Sinclair after serving as CEO and Co-Chairman of Exclusive Media. Their productions have won Emmys three years in a row, including the documentaries “Lucy and Desi,” “The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and “The Apollo.”
“This new management plan positions White Horse Pictures to expand upon nearly a decade of consistent growth,” said Sinclair. “I look forward to being a part of this company’s next chapter, as a new generation of leaders creates first-rate content.”
Ferrall, who has served as President of White Horse since 2019, said, “It’s been an honor building White Horse with my partners these past eight years, and I relish the opportunity to expand my role ahead of this new phase of growth. I look forward to continuing to work alongside Nigel and our fantastic executive team to continue producing high quality films and documentaries.”
Elfant Festa and Hartmann added, “This is such an electric time in our industry, with so much opportunity for innovative and elevated storytelling. We’re excited to continue building on Nigel’s breadth of experience and incredible relationships and growing White Horse’s production operations while also maintaining our commitment to excellence on every one of our projects.”
White Horse’s upcoming projects include the Gene Wilder documentary “Wilder”; “Stax,” a multi-part HBO series about Stax Records; feature-length doc “Billy Preston”; and “Shari & Lamb Chop,” about the puppeteer Shari Lewis.
