Vesper scoots to FremantleMedia drama team

FremantleMedia has hired former SundanceTV drama chief Christian Vesper as executive VP, creative director of global drama.

Vesper left AMC Networks-owned SundanceTV earlier this year, but will now work within FremantleMedia’s drama unit, reporting to director of global drama Sarah Doole.

He will be based in London and New York, working closely with FremantleMedia’s production companies as a development partner and bolstering the international scripted slate.

He will work alongside FremantleMedia’s EVP, global scripted and unscripted Georgia Brown, with a spokesman saying their roles were “complementary”.

Vesper worked at SundanceTV for 14 years, most recently as senior VP, scripted development and current programming, overseeing coproductions such as The Last Panthers, with Sky Atlantic and Canal+; Rebellion, with Zodiak Rights, RTÉ and Touchpaper TV; and The A Word, with BBC One and Keshet International.

He had worked with FremantleMedia and its subsidiary, UFA Fiction, on the German drama Deutschland 83.

He has also developed Rectify and Hap and Leonard and led Sundance’s involvement in BBC coproductions The Honourable Woman and Top of the Lake.

He has previously worked at HBO, start-up iFilm, October Films and USA Films.

Doole described his capture as “a real coup”, adding: “He is one of the most creative and editorially talented drama executives working in the business today, with a contact book that is brimming with the industry’s best-known and most-respected names.”