Patrick Hurley
Head of Distribution & Business Affairs
Patrick Hurley leads on distribution strategy at Sandbox Films, developing bespoke plans and campaigns for each production while working closely with the filmmakers and release partners worldwide to maximize each film’s impact and audience. Patrick has a decade of experience in connecting new documentaries with release partners and audiences via roles as Industry Director at Sheffield DocFest and Distribution Manager at Dogwoof, UK. At DocFest, Patrick oversaw five editions of the festival’s flagship pitching forum, the MeetMarket, linking new feature documentary projects with international financiers, distributors, sales agents and festival programmers alongside talent development initiatives for emerging filmmakers and producers. During five years at Dogwoof, Patrick focused on theatrical campaigns and non-theatrical distribution across a wide range of over 100 feature documentaries. Patrick holds a degree in Economics from the University of Sydney with Honours in Political Science. His dissertation titled ‘Making Ideas Matter’ studied the communications strategies of think tanks and research institutes. Prior to working in film, Patrick was a researcher and a teacher.