Little Dot develops in US with Barcroft exec

UK-based digital content firm Little Dot Studios (LDS) has appointed a former Barcroft Productions executive to work across its unscripted development in the US.

Paul Woolf

Paul Woolf has been named head of US unscripted development and will work on Little Dot’s plans to ramp up the development of its Real Stories Original midform documentary commissions into longform docs and series for US networks and platforms.

Woolf was most recently head of development at Barcroft, where he helped to create Netflix’s Amazing Interiors, specials for Channel 4 and Animal Planet, and shortform projects for A+E Networks UK and Barcroft’s own digital platforms.

Before that, he worked at UK prodco Maverick TV and developed series such as BBC2’s social experiment show Old School and co-developed ITV programme Billy Connolly’s Route 66.

LDS runs a suite of its own channels on YouTube, streamers and social media services. These include Real Stories, which hosts around 700 documentaries from around the world. The docs are overseen by executive editor Alex Hryniewicz and have claimed 650 million views.

LDS also commissions its own Real Stories docs, led by ex-Channel 4 commissioner Adam Gee, which act as pilots for bigger projects with networks and platforms. Recent commissions include police doc Vanished and In Your Face, which has generated 50 million views across platforms.

Woolf is the latest US addition for LDS, which has already named Holly Graham as head of partnerships.