Entertainment Partners names Chris Gratton to lead UK business

Entertainment Partners has named Chris Gratton to run its business in the United Kingdom.

He takes the title of Executive Vice President and Managing Director. The appointment took effect on 5 October 2026, the same day it was announced, Deadline reported.

Gratton will lead the company's UK operations. He will be based in its London office. The company is headed globally by President and CEO Markham L. Goldstein.

He joins Entertainment Partners from Ticketmaster Sport. There, he served as Managing Director, meaning he was the senior boss of that business.

At Ticketmaster Sport, Gratton helped put together the first-ever league-wide deal across Premiership Rugby. A league-wide deal means one agreement covering the whole league, rather than separate deals club by club. He also helped launch a centralised rugby marketplace, in effect one place for ticketing across the sport.

Short version: his recent work was about getting fans in seats.

Earlier in his career, Gratton held leadership roles at FleishmanHillard, Octagon and Leo Burnett. Those are agency businesses. Leadership roles there mean running teams and client accounts.

The appointment follows the company's recent UK launch of two working tools. One is SmartStart, a digital onboarding system. Onboarding is the paperwork and checks that get a worker set up for a job. The other is SmartTime, a timecard solution. A timecard is the record of hours worked that feeds into pay.

For people watching at home, this is the back office of film and television. Someone has to register each worker and log each hour. That work sits with Entertainment Partners in the UK.

What makes this stand out is the crossover. Gratton made his recent name in sport ticketing. Now he leads a team serving UK productions.