McKnight leaves Blair Partnership and Rowling's Wizarding World for Pophouse

James McKnight, long-time chief creative officer for J K Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise at the Blair Partnership, has been named head of entertainment research and development at Swedish company Pophouse.

He makes the move from the literary, entertainment and franchise management agency that represents Rowling, where he has worked for seven years. Throughout the past five years, as the agency’s chief creative officer and partner, McKnight and his team were responsible for managing the Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and the encompassing Wizarding World franchises, through partner relationships that included Warner Media.

McKnight will now be establishing a London office for the Stockholm-headquartered Pophouse, which acquires and develops entertainment brands within music, live events, podcast and gaming.

Current projects in the Pophouse stable include ABBA The Museum, Mamma Mia! The Party and The Avicii Experience. McKnight will be looking to grow and expand this list with brands such as Swedish House Mafia as well the company’s future investments in intellectual property. He will collaborate closely with Pophouse principal and ABBA founder Björn Ulvaeus.

McKnight—who originally hails from Scotland—will continue to be based in his home city of 20 years, London.

“What drew me to Pophouse were the people, the culture and the vision," he said. "We’ll be amplifying brands and taking them into broader entertainment spaces, focusing on storytelling across different formats and introducing new audiences as we do so. This is exactly what Björn and his peers have done so successfully with the ABBA catalogue. Pophouse describes its mission as “Making ideas pop”, and I love that. Finding the right projects and prioritising them will be the key to our success, backed by a strong culture of partnership and collaboration around the brands we protect and develop. I am looking forward to finding the right team and collaborators to help us do that.”

Pophouse c.e.o. Per Sundin added: ““As everyone who has met James can attest, he is a creative force and an incredibly inspiring person with an immense passion for storytelling and entertainment. His strong track-record of developing global IP rights and leading creative teams makes him a great fit for us, matching the ambition and scale with which we’re building Pophouse.”