EXCLUSIVE: Disney‘s hunt for its subsequent European content material supremo reached the very highest echelons of the BBC, however the Mouse Home appears to be like to have emerged empty-handed.
Deadline can reveal that BBC content material boss Charlotte Moore, essentially the most highly effective particular person in British TV and audio commissioning, held talks over a transfer to Disney, however finally turned down the chance. Disney and the BBC declined to remark.
Disney needed Moore to turn out to be its subsequent SVP of Authentic Content material in EMEA. Recruitment for the function has been the discuss of the UK TV business since Deadline revealed Liam Keelan was exiting after 5 years. Keelan constructed an EMEA originals group from scratch and the present that can probably outline his Disney legacy is Rivals, the big-budget Jilly Cooper adaptation that has been renewed for a second season. Others included doc sequence Coleen Rooney: The Actual Wagatha Story and Daniel Brühl-starrer Changing into Karl Lagerfeld.
Disney is aiming excessive with Keelan’s successor. The audacious effort to woo Moore is revealing of its plans for the function and its significance within the Mouse Home’s ecosystem. The corporate can also be understood to have approached Netflix’s UK chief Anne Mensah and Polly Hill, ITV’s head of drama.
Though not formally concerned in recruitment efforts, sources stated Disney CEO Bob Iger and leisure chief Dana Walden have taken an curiosity within the course of and have been in Europe in current weeks. The formal search is being led by Disney TV Studios President Eric Schrier, who oversees worldwide content material technique.
It isn’t clear why Moore turned down the function, which might probably have elevated her £468,000 ($600,000) wage, however lowered her content material slate and spending energy. Folks conversant in the method stated the business calls for of Disney and the centrifugal pressure of America would make it a really completely different proposition to the BBC.
Moore has overseen the BBC’s tv output since 2016, including audio and sport to her portfolio in 2020, when she was elevated to Chief Content material Officer and joined the BBC Board after shedding out to Tim Davie within the race to turn out to be Director Normal. She oversees hundreds of hours of TV and has greenlit most of the nation’s largest hits, together with Traitors, Fleabag, and The Evening Supervisor. In current occasions, the BBC and Disney have teamed on the regenerated Physician Who.
Different Large Names Focused
Sources informed Deadline that Netflix UK content material boss Mensah and ITV’s Polly Hill additionally had conversations with Disney, although it isn’t clear if they’re keen to depart their present roles.
The pair have had a powerful 12 months, with Netflix UK fare like Child Reindeer, The Gents and Idiot Me As soon as going gangbusters for the streamer. Hill, in the meantime, is a well-respected commissioner who had a front-row seat as ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Publish Workplace generated headlines for weeks and had an outsized impression on the political panorama at first of the yr. She can also be a former BBC drama boss.
If nobody from the UK might be plucked, sources additionally speculated that Jon Wax, who joined Disney within the newly-created EVP, Worldwide Authentic Tv for Disney Leisure, publish at first of this yr, might have his function expanded. The Los Angeles-based exec works with regional leaders and their groups throughout the globe to create native content material for Disney+.
The seek for Keelan’s substitute continues. Keelan, who labored with Moore for years on the BBC, will exit early subsequent yr.