Zodiak Rights taps BBC Worldwide for ‘heavy hitting’ hire

Zodiak Rights has poached a BBC Worldwide exec described as a “heavy hitter” to become its head of international scripted.

Caroline Torrance (left) will spearhead a push into international drama, working with Zodiak Media’s scripted sales team in Paris and working with in-house and external producers to develop comedy and drama coproductions.

She will work with Zodiak drama producers such as Yellow Bird and Jarowski in Sweden, Touchpaper and Bwark in the UK and Marathon and Tele Images Productions in France.

Torrance was previously BBCWW’s director of scripted, content and production, where she was responsible for the BBC commercial arm’s global content and acquisitions strategy for both in-house and indie productions.

She has also held similar roles at Endemol and Granada.

Matthew Frank, CEO Zodiak Rights said: “We’ve been looking to hire a heavy hitter in the scripted area for some time now and in Caroline I believe we have found that person.

“The recent success of The Returned, an outstanding original series with a French twist, and upcoming projects like Occupied are paving the way for broadcasters who look to us for more exciting European drama. I am confident that Caroline will help us to accelerate our ambitions in this area.”

Zodiak’s efforts in high end drama and comedy has born fruit including Millennium, Wallander and Being Human, among others. It also owns The Inbetweeners through its acquisition of UK producer Bwark.

Marc-Antoine d’Halluin, who became Zodiak’s CEO this month following the news David Frank was exiting, said global coproductions would play “critical part” in the firm’s growth plans.

“In this respect, we are looking for growth to come first from our in-house production houses, but also from talented independent third party partners who can benefit from the support that the Zodiak Media group can provide, both in packaging co-productions from the outset and accessing our leading distribution network to maximise the exploitation of the best ideas,” he added.