The BBC Studios Production CEO announced Managing Director of Factual Kate Ward will now lead a new unit, BBC Studios Unscripted Productions, while Matt Forde will lead BBC Studios Global Production. The units will sit alongside Scripted, Kids & Family and Audio in the BBC Studios stable.Ward’s division will house subsidiary production operations Natural History Unit, Science Unit, Specialist Factual Productions, Documentary Unit and BBC Studios UK Entertainment, as well as labels and other indies BBC Studios has investments in, including Voltage TV, Mothership TV, Samphire Films and Mettlemouse Entertainment.In effect, this merges BBC Studios’ factual, UK entertainment and entertainment development portfolios under one roof, with former Vice Studios production boss Ward at the helm as Managing Director. Shows housed at the unit include NBC Universal’s natural history series The Americas, the forthcoming Walking with Dinosaurs for the BBC, and Nat Geo’s Tucci in Italy.Suzy Lamb, Managing Director Entertainment UK, and Karl Warner, EVP of UK Entertainment and Digital Development, will continue to create new formats and franchises, now reporting directly to Bennett and also working with Ward on the overall strategy for the BBC Studios Entertainment business.International production is also getting a boost under Forde, who will lead BBC Studios Global Production as President. He will lead production outside the UK and oversee a slate of international formats that includes The 1% Club, Ghosts and The Honesty Box, continuing to report into Bennett.The international Managing Directors, such as Ryan O’Dowd in L.A., will continue to report to Forde, as will international formats boss Sumi Connock, who will now work with Ward as well more broadly across the global unscripted slate and on acquisition of third-party formats.A BBC spokesman said no job losses were resulting from the restructure, which comes just over half a year after Bennett returned to the BBC from Sky to replace Ralph Lee as BBC Studios’ production boss. Bennett has been named among the frontrunners to replace Charlotte Moore as BBC Chief Creative Officer, but today’s news perhaps dampens that likelihood.“There’s been an increased demand for unscripted programming in our customers’ content strategies, so a single Unscripted business gives us an incredibly potent offering for the market – and it’s the right moment to significantly increase our international production footprint,” said Bennett.All changes took place today.
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