Australian pubcaster ABC has said goodbye to its head of kids’ commissioning and development Carla de Jong.
Her departure after four years with ABC Children’s comes almost a year after she relocated to Toronto but continued to work in her role remotely. She will now remain in Canada and focus on working on international projects with local companies, according to local industry blog TV Tonight.
Her role is being split between new commissioner of animation Chris Rose, who is joining at the end of April, as revealed by C21 last week, and commissioner of live-action Simon Hopkinson.
Another change sparked by de Jong’s departure sees Hopkinson now supervising factual/reality commissioner Thierry Bled. The news comes just over two years after the launch of children’s and youth channel ABC3.
Former CBBC and Network Ten exec de Jong joined ABC in 2008. During her tenure, she commissioned successful shows such as drama Dance Academy, comedy format Prank Patrol and a number of factual and reality series.
Controller of ABC Children’s Tim Brooke-Hunt, who last week said Rose’s hire from Hit Entertainment marked a significant push into toons, said of de Jong’s exit: “She contributed greatly to the creation of ABC3, and to the revitalising of ABC4Kids. Together with (executive producer of children’s production) Jan Stradling, Carla was responsible for the selection of our Studio 3 hosts and for the creation of ABC4Kids’ popular Giggle & Hoot hosting team.”
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