In the new role, Priest will lead all new ventures outside of Westbrook’s core business in the Studio and Media divisions, overseeing the consumer brands arm of the company including merchandise business Good Goods. At the same time, he will launch new verticals within the Westbrook portfolio, which will advance the company’s mission to empower artists telling stories that connect the world.“I have known Ben for a long time.
Priest is a business exec and entrepreneur based out of Los Angeles who most recently led the Americas region for McLaren Technology Group, overseeing marketing partnerships, tech and business innovation, new business development, expansion into new verticals and the general brand growth of F1 and McLaren in the U.S.
Prior to his time there, he spent a decade in the sports agency business across talent representation, marketing and business development. He began his career by founding his own Motorsport focused talent and marketing consultancy, and subsequently led the Americas region for Motorsport marketing powerhouse JMI, which went on to become London’s CSM Sport & Entertainment.
Will and Jada Pinkett Smith founded Westbrook with Yada and Miguel Melendez in 2019. The media company is home to premium film and TV studio, Westbrook Studios; vertically-integrated IP incubator, brand content studio, and production company, Westbrook Media; Red Table Talk Productions, which is responsible for popular Facebook Watch series; and Good Goods, which creates consumer products stemming from company IP and existing talent partnerships.
Westbrook curates and produces content across the mediums of digital, traditional TV and motion pictures for all platforms. News of Priest’s hiring comes on the heels of, a hip-hop musical feature based on Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s hit song of the same name, which Westbrook Studios is developing with Davis Entertainment for Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems.