The Bright Agency expands rights department with hires from Disney, Hachette and Heywood Hill

The Bright Agency has announced the expansion of its contracts and legal department with three new UK hires.

Tahmeed Zaki has joined Bright UK as contracts manager from Disney, where he was a contracts analyst, having previously worked at Hachette and Penguin Random House.

Humayra Ahmed has been appointed as contracts and royalties executive, joining from Hachette UK, where she was a contracts executive, and Christina Borg – most recently subscriptions administrator at Heywood Hill –  has joined the team as contracts and royalties assistant, supporting the department and based in the London office.

Jenna Brown, the current UK contracts manager, has also moved from Bright UK to Bright US in the first inter-agency transfer.

Vicki Willden-Lebrecht, founder and c.e.o., said: “Bright has no limits on creativity for our artists. We have always invested to match that passion with robust and accurate contract negotiation and royalty collection on behalf of the brilliant people we represent. Expanding our infrastructure as we expand our agent pool is an expected step.

“The new additions to the contracts and royalties team will add to the established insight and direction, allowing our artists and authors to rely on Bright’s extensive experience in contract negotiation whilst clients benefit from fair and consistent working practices.”

Sandra Tharumalingam Willmer, head of contracts and legal, to whom the team all report, also commented: “I am delighted to welcome Tahmeed, Humayra and Christina, and much as we will miss Jenna in the UK office, as we will continue to work closely together, retaining our close ties from a distance reflects the international nature of our work and the truly global reach of our artists and authors work.

“The new additions to our contracts and royalties team will add to our established insight and direction, allowing our artists and authors to rely on our extensive experience in contract negotiation whilst our clients benefit from fair and consistent working practice.”

Bright represents creatives including Benji Davies, Yasmeen Ismail and David Litchfield. Clients include The New York Times, Penguin Random House, Netflix, BBC, and Unilever.