Award-winning production company Half Yard Productions has announced today that Dirk Hoogstra is to join the company as EVP of Development, with immediate effect. He will be based in Half Yard’s New York office.
Over the last 23 years Hoogstra has worked in the media industry as a network executive and producer, holding a number of senior positions including Executive Vice President and General Manager of A&E’s History. During his run at History he developed and oversaw scripted and unscripted series including American Pickers, Counting Cars, Mountain Men, Top Gear, Hatfields & McCoys, The Bible and Vikings.
Hoogstra will work closely with Half Yard’s recently promoted Chief Creative Officer, Nicole Sorrenti, and VP of Development, Matt Ayres. Ayres was promoted in April 2019, and has more than 15 years of experience as both a leading content creator and developer, having worked on productions including Twin Turbos and The Last Alaskans.
Sean Gallagher, CEO of Half Yard Productions, said: “We’re thrilled to bring Dirk in to the Half Yard fold. Dirk and I worked together for many years at Discovery and TLC, developing hit series such as American Chopper, Dirty Jobs and Little People, Big World. We’ve had a lot of success together, and I wanted to bring that creative chemistry over to Half Yard.”
Nicole Sorrenti, Chief Creative Officer of Half Yard Productions, said: “Dirk will be a great addition to our team. He brings a ton of experience and is focused on ramping up our development pipeline. We couldn’t be more pleased.”
Dirk Hoogstra said: “I’m thrilled to be getting the band back together with Sean. He’s built a strong creative team, and we’re going to be moving quickly to build on Half Yard’s already impressive stable of hit series.”
Half Yard Productions was commissioned by Discovery earlier this year to produce two major new spin-offs of its successful franchise Say Yes to the Dress, which is currently in its 17th season for TLC: Say Yes to Nest for HGTV, which premiered in January and started a six-part run in May, and major new 10-part series Say Yes to the Dress America for TLC, premiering in January 2020. Other recent commissions include The Toe Bro, with Studio71, which premiered March 5 on A&E, and While You Were Out for both TLC and HGTV, which premiered in March.