Forde fills Tranter’s BBCWW role

BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) North America has promoted Matt Forde to replace head of productions Jane Tranter, who is leaving to launch an independent venture.

Matt Forde

Tranter’s decision to leave the LA-based arm of the UK pubcaster’s commercial company was widely reported earlier this year.

The move has now been confirmed, with Julie Gardner, senior VP of scripted, also leaving BBCWW North America to join Tranter’s new venture.

Matt Forde, currently executive VP of TV sales and digital distribution, has been upped to executive VP of content production, sales and distribution to replace Tranter.

Based in New York and LA, Forde will lead both LA-based production units in addition to his current role.

He will report to Ann Sarnoff, who replaces Herb Scannell as president of BBCWW North America later this year.

Since moving to LA in January 2009, Tranter has worked on US versions of BBCWW formats including ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and History’s Top Gear.

She also produced Getting On and Criminal Justice for HBO and worked on Da Vinci’s Demons for Starz, the first scripted original series developed and produced under BBCWW’s Adjacent Productions label, which she helped launched in 2012.

Jane Tranter

Adjacent’s slate of new formats and originals included Life Below Zero for Nat Geo, Ladies of London for Bravo and the recently launched Lost in Transmission for History.

Prior to the move she was controller of fiction at the BBC. Tranter will leave on August 14.

Julie Gardner, the executive producer who partnered with Russell T Davies to relaunch Doctor Who, has overseen both BBCWW Productions and Adjacent Productions’ scripted slates since 2009.

Forde joined BBCWW in 1998 and moved to the North America team in 2009. He previously secured US coproduction partners for series such as Sherlock, Top of the Lake and The Honorable Woman.

Recently, Forde brought together creative teams from the BBC and PBS for a three-year coproduction deal that will result in up to 10 factual specials per year, such as Big Blue Live and Waking Giants.