Ex-ABC exec in as Aussie prodco targets drama

Former ABC and Nine Network exec and local industry veteran Courtney Gibson has joined Australian producer Jungle as it moves into TV drama.

Gibson has been named managing director and partner with the company, which has an unnamed television drama in production and another in fully-funded development from showrunner Kristen Dunphy.

She is a former executive head of content creation and head of arts, entertainment and comedy at Aussie pubcaster the ABC, production executive at commercial net Nine, director of programmes at Southern Star Entertainment (now part of Endemol Shine Australia).

More recently, she was CEO of Screen NSW, a regional programming funding body. She left after the organisation merged with an arts body.

Gibson has now become partner of Jungle, which is known as a comedy TV and commercials producer, alongside CEO Jason Burrows, head of production Chloe Rickard, writer Phil Lloyd and director Trent O’Donnell.

Jungle is also launching The Jungle Collective, which is billed as “a creative hub for Jungle production partners and incubator for next generation showrunners and feature filmmakers”. Production chief Rickard will lead the initiative.

Christiaan and Connor Van Vuuren, who are behind ABC and NBCUniversal SVOD service Seeso comedy Soul Mates, are among the first to joint the Collective. They currently have Screen Queensland development funding for the first Jungle-produced feature film, and have two TV projects in the works.

Aussie writer-director Claudia Pickering, behind recent movie Frisky, is also signed up and will produce her next two projects with Jungle.

Jungle is behind the lauded Nine Network comedy Here Come the Habibs, the ABC’s The Moodys and No Activity for streaming service Stan. It also created Review with Myles Barlow, a satire that was formatted for Comedy Central in the US.