Beach House hires for China office

Singapore-based Beach House Pictures (BHP) is opening a production office in Beijing and has hired a former Discovery Channel China exec to run it.

Felix Feng

BHP China will be headed up by Felix Feng, a former head of business development at Discovery Channels China and VP of China operations at BHP sister company NHNZ.

As general manager of BHP China, Feng will lead creative development and strategic partnerships in the country and work with Maxine Lu, general manager of Beach House Pictures Taiwan, and Jim Ribbans, head of business development at BHP, to seek growth opportunities in the region.

The opening of an office in China comes after BHP filmed a number of its series, such as China from Above, there. Feng will be tasked with targeting the country’s expanding content and pay TV market.

“China now has a genuine appetite for local content of international quality, across multiple platforms,” said BHP creative director Donovan Chan.

Meanwhile, BHP has added to the team at its children’s content arm, Beach House Kids, following the relocation of senior development producer Marc Checkley to Geneva in August.

John Marsh

Checkley, who has been with the company since 2014, will continue to work with BHP on specific projects and creative development, the firm said.

His replacement is John Marsh, who joins as Beach House Kids’ new development producer/staff writer, working alongside Susan Oliver, head of the division.

Marsh’s credits include episodes of Arthur (PBS), Rodney (ABC) and The Proud Family (Disney Channel).

BHP MD Jocelyn Little said: “We are delivering 90 half-hours of kids’ content for Mediacorp’s OKTO and Channel 9 in Australia, launching a major global series for Nat Geo International and producing a ground breaking Borneo series for Discovery Channel. Expanding our talent pool and territories enable us to remain competitive and maintain our international growth.”