Forde upped as Tranter exits BBC Worldwide Prods

Matt Forde (below) has been promoted at BBC Worldwide North America after the company confirmed the departure of UK-bound Jane Tranter.

Julie Gardner is also leaving BBCWW North America’s BBCWW Productions and subsidiary Adjacent Productions to work with Tranter (below right) on a new independent production company.

As a result of the departures, executive VP, TV sales and digital distribution Forde becomes EVP, content production, sales and distribution, reporting to BBCWW North America president Ann Sarnoff.

He will split his time between New York and LA and look to build the core development, production, distribution and sales segment of the six-year-old firm’s business.

Tranter, who was head of BBC of BBCWW Productions and Adjacent, steps down on August 14. She has led the BBCWW unit since January 2009 after moving across from the UK, where she was controller of fiction.

She built BBCWW Productions up as a scripted and unscripted business, working on series such as the upcoming HBO miniseries Crime, History’s remake of Top Gear, twelve seasons of ABC’ Dancing with the Stars and three seasons of Starz’s Da Vinci’s Demons.

In 2011, she created Adjacent, which worked on format development of shows such as National Geographic Channel’s Below Zero and Bravo’s Ladies of In total she has overseen 870 of programming.

She worked closely with senior VP, scripted Gardner, who is best known for executive producing and relaunching Doctor Who with Russell T. Davies.

With their departures, the well-liked Forde steps up. He has been with the BBC’s commercial arm since 1998 and joined the North America team six years ago. He worked on coproduction deals for shows including The Honourable Woman, Sherlock and Top of the Lake.

More recently he brought the BBC and PBS creative teams together on a three-year blue-chip factual coproduction agreement, and has also worked closely with on-demand platforms such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Instant Video.

“Jane and the team have built a truly strong production business and I am very fortunate to inherit such a stellar team of creative and commercial executives – including Courtney Conte, who will work closely with me to ensure continued growth of this thriving business,” said Forde.

“BBC is a fantastic brand and a powerhouse in creating IP and potential formats for the US market. With the media industry changing at speed, there is an ever increasing set of new opportunities to complement our growing slate of shows.”