Warner Bros exec to head Shine formats

News Corp production group Shine has poached a Warner Bros sales exec to replace Ben Hall as MD of its international formats division.

Claudia Danser joins Shine Network from Warner Bros International Television Production (WBITVP), where she is VP of European sales, early next year.

Reporting to Shine Network and Shine Australia CEO Mark Fennessy, Danser will head up a 14-strong team at Shine’s London base. She’ll be in charge of developing Shine formats such as MasterChef, The Biggest Loser and Got to Dance internationally.

Upon her arrival, current MD Hall will move into a consultancy role at the division before taking up another as yet undisclosed position within the group.

For WBITVP, it’s a second senior departure in a week following the news senior VP of sales and acquisitions Chris Bonney was leaving to join Cineflix Media, as revealed by C21.

During her time at WBITVP, Danser has worked on formats such as The Bachelor, Supernanny and Who Do You Think You Are.

Before then, she was Outright Distribution’s executive VP of sales and coproductions, joining Warner Bros when it acquired Outright’s sister firm Shed Media last year. She also held an international sales role at BBC Worldwide.

Shine Network CEO Fennessy said: “Claudia is a super talent – her experience spans every key region on the globe. She has combined an outstanding degree of success in sales with an impressive record on format development.”

A Shine spokeswoman said there was no update in the hunt for a new president at Shine sales arm Shine International, following the departure of Chris Grant earlier this year. Grant has since reunited with Reveille cohort Ben Silverman at US-based Electus, where he took up his new post of CEO yesterday.