Ex-Channel 4 exec Mel Bezalel to lead development, design team at BBC Studios Productions
Former Channel 4 and Optomen executive Mel Bezalel has been hired to lead BBC Studios Productions’ fledgling central development and design team.
Sitting within the recently formed Unscripted Productions, the division has been created as part of the newly formed development arm headed by Karl Warner, executive VP of BBC Studios entertainment and digital development.
Led by Bezalel, who starts in June, the team will support idea generation and pitching. It will also deliver assets and pitching materials for formats and new IP to commissioners around the globe.
Orbiting the central development and design team will be a new reality label, a new factual entertainment label and the existing mixed entertainment label Rebel Rebel Pictures.
Together, they form Warner’s entertainment development division, which is focused on new IP generation as well as reimagining international ideas for the UK market. Shows that get greenlit in the UK will be produced by BBC Studios Entertainment Productions, led by MD Suzy Lamb.
Bezalel joins from All3Media-owned UK prodco Optomen, where she is currently creative director of development. Prior to this, she was a commissioning editor at Channel 4, developing and ordering shows such as The Honesty Box and The Underdog: Josh Must Win.
She has also served as director of development at RDF, as well as holding senior roles at Twenty Twenty and Me & You Productions.
Bezalel said: “It’s a real privilege to be joining this brilliant new era at BBC Studios; the creative momentum and vision led by Suzy and Karl is so exciting.
“In this role, I’ll be collaborating across the global business, creating partnerships and pushing creative boundaries with my new team and I can’t wait to get stuck in.”
Warner said: “Mel is one of the best creatives and collaborators I’ve met. She has a sharp strategic mind and her experience on both sides of the table, in development and commissioning, means she’s the perfect person to help bring our new, ambitious strategy to life.”
