Producer Alyson Richards has joined The Nightingale Company, arriving in step with three new appointments on the creative, business and online sides of the Toronto production house.

Richards is now an associate producer at the company, arriving with credits including its 8 x 60 drama The Weight, the feature doc Fiercelight: Where Spirit Meets Action and the three-parter Shades of Blue. Richards has also turned out two noted short films -- Skinheads and Dogasaur -- and went through the producer's program at the Canadian Film Centre.

The company has also hired Denis Coyne, formerly of the fundraising team at the Toronto International Film Festival Group, to work in business development. Adam Clare is now an online properties strategist, while Jeanette Cabral steps in as development coordinator.

The new staff will "further strengthen our position as an innovative, growing company dedicated to working with the best creative and business people," said president Debbie Nightingale in a release.