Sarah Doole makes first Red Productions hire with Hera Pictures exec

Years And Years

StudioCanal-owned UK producer Red Productions has hired Chloe Dunbar from Hera Pictures as its new head of development, marking the first hire for recently appointed CEO Sarah Doole.

Dunbar’s remit extends across all development at Red, including originating and pitching new project ideas for the UK and global audiences, as well as working with production.

Chloe Dunbar

She reports into Red’s CEO Sarah Doole – who replaced ITV Studios-bound Nicola Shindler last year – and takes up her role on 10 May.

Dunbar was most recently head of development at UK-based Hera Pictures, where she was the prodco’s first employee in 2017. She has been behind shows including Sky drama Temple and before that worked at UK broadcaster Channel 4 in various roles including development executive for drama.

Doole said: “Chloe is an exceptional operator with brilliant editorial judgement, strong industry relationships, and a thorough understanding of the television market here in the UK and internationally.

“She adds to this a great track record in growing high-end, boldly original drama projects, which fits perfectly with Red’s ambition. Having started her career publicising Red’s output, I’m particularly thrilled that Chloe will be returning to us to develop our next generation of hit shows.”

Sarah Doole

Dunbar added: “Some of my most formative and exhilarating experiences of drama were forged on the sets of Red shows in my earlier career.

“To me it is a company that has always been synonymous with exceptional writing, utter boldness and vision so I couldn’t be more excited to be joining Sarah and the team as they create this ambitious next chapter in RED’s history and develop a new raft of distinctive and memorable series with the very best drama talent around.”

Red’s catalogue includes a raft of Russell T Davies dramas such as Cucumber, Queer As Folk, Years And Years and It’s A Sin, as well as Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley and Lenny Henry’s Danny And The Human Zoo, and Harlan Coben’s Safe. It is currently working on Ridley Road for BBC One in the UK and Harlan Coben’s The Stranger for Netflix.