Fifty Fathoms exec joins Playground in rejig

Fifty Fathoms’s head of development, Melissa Gallant, is joining Wolf Hall producer Playground Entertainment, which has restructured its UK team.

Gallant has been named creative director at Playground, where she will work alongside Katie Draper, who has been promoted to the same position.

At the same time, existing Playground creative director Sophie Gardiner (pictured) has been promoted to head of drama and executive creative director.

She will oversee Playground’s UK TV production and development slates, including Howards End, which is soon to launch on the BBC and Starz in the US, and the upcoming BBC-PBS coproduction Little Women.

Gardiner joined Playground from UK broadcaster Channel 4 at the end of 2014, while Gallant had been with Fifty Fathoms parent Tiger Aspect since 2005. Draper worked at Kudos, which sits alongside Tiger Aspect in the Endemol Shine Group.

“Good story telling has never felt more important and I’m thrilled to have such a strong team with Melissa and Katie spearheading our upcoming development slate.” said Gardiner.

“By expanding our creative team we hope to continue to deliver on our ambition to make Playground a home for the best writing talent, both established and new, from television, theatre and film.”

Former HBO programming chief Colin Callender created the London- and New York-based Playground in 2012.