Turner hires Mote for copro push

Turner Broadcasting has brought on board former Current TV and UKTV exec Jane Mote and an acquisitions manager from BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) as it seeks coproduction partners for its TruTV channel in the UK.

Mote was the MD at Current TV in the UK before it was shuttered in early 2012, and prior to that had been the channel’s director of factual and lifestyle. More recently she has been consulting for London Live and indie film funding agency The Smalls.

She is now joining TruTV, which launched in the UK in July last year, as interim channel director of general entertainment, reporting to Turner Broadcasting UK and Northern Europe MD Ian McDonough.

McDonough left BBCWW, where he was executive VP of CEMA, in April last year to lead Turner in Northern Europe. He has now returned to the commercial arm of the UK pubcaster to bring in programming exec Sabina McNally as acquisitions manager.

Together, McNally and Mote have been charged with finding coproduction partners on high-volume, character-led content for the UK market to sit alongside TruTV’s unscripted imports from the US, which include South Beach Tow and Tattoo Nightmares.

“We have seen solid growth in the first six months with access to some of the top factual and reality shows in the US, and now we want to accelerate that further with shows tailored specifically for UK audiences,” said McDonough.

Mote, who will be meeting producers and broadcasters at the RealScreen Summit in Washington next week, added: “TruTV’s UK audiences enjoy unashamedly sitting back and watching loveable, larger-than-life characters doing amazing or outrageous things.

“They’re not after any great take-out – rather a view into other people’s worlds that are surprising, unusual or entertaining. We are looking for great ideas from any part of the world that will excite their curiosity.”