BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions has hired two new recruits to join its development team with Grainne McNamara as Executive Producer, Live Action and Development, and Adam Bailey as Development Producer, Animation. McNamara and Bailey join the team tasked with shaping creative direction for BBC Studios Kids & Family, creating new IP and nurturing fledgling ideas for young audiences and their families both globally and across the UK.
With over 24 years industry experience, Grainne McNamara will oversee the strategy across the live action pipeline and will lead the team on the execution of development priorities. She brings a wealth of expertise in developing, producing and launching award-winning linear and multiplatform narrative content. She has held previous roles, including within the kids and family space, at 9Story Media Group, King Bert Productions and Disney.
As VP Live-Action Development and Production at 9 Story, McNamara produced/executive produced the award-winning A Kind Of Spark for CBBC, a powerful, heart-warming live action series about friendship, courage and self-belief based on the award-winning book by neurodivergent author, Elle McNicoll. At King Bert Productions, she oversaw development and series production for scripted and unscripted IP, including the David Walliams book properties, in her role as Head of Children’s and Family, and was responsible for two original series, Malory Towers for CBBC, and After Ever After for Sky.
As well as live action expertise, McNamara has also worked in animation as Development Executive, Animation at Disney, before becoming Head of Live-Action Development. She was also VP Development at Cake Distribution where she successfully developed and greenlit Bottersnikes and Gumbles for CBBC and Netflix Originals.
Grainne McNamara said: “I am absolutely thrilled to join BBC Studios Kids & Family. The talented team here is a pleasure to work with. I am excited to drive our live-action strategy forward and to continue to make meaningful and impactful content for our audiences.”
Adam Bailey is an accomplished broadcast professional, producer and director with over 17 years’ experience in high-end commercial animated content development and production as well as within the wider creative industries. As Development Producer with BBC Studios, he will help drive forward the creative pipeline with a targeted focus on growing preschool.
His creative, editorial skills and technical abilities have been honed on over 50 animated and mixed media productions, both as a broadcast executive as well as an indie producer. Working with renowned global talent, award-winning creators and studios in the UK, USA, Brazil, Japan, Denmark, France, South Korea, China and Eastern Europe.
As well as having extensive experience in development, Bailey has numerous production credits including Executive Producer roles on Best & Bester and LEGO City Adventures whilst he was Director of Animation Development and Production at Paramount. Prior to that, he was Producer and Head of Animation Development at Cloth Cat, where he also held senior production roles on Olobob Top and Boj, as well as the feature-length, hand-drawn animated film Ethel & Ernest and the Emmy nominated Luo Bao Bei.
Adam Bailey commented: “BBC Studios Kids & Family has an incredibly impressive creative and strategic content track record and I am delighted to be working closely with the animation development and commercial strategy teams to discover, develop and nurture new IP ripe for multiplatform success. It's an exciting time to have joined BBC Studios and a key focus for me is working directly with talent throughout the development process to produce content that will entertain, empower and resonate with audiences, not just in the UK, but all around the world.”
Managing Director, BBC Studios Kids & Family, Cecilia Persson, concluded: “The addition of Grainne and Adam further bolsters our commitment to working with the best creatives in the industry who can originate and nurture stand out hits that are loved by audiences everywhere. They have a wealth of insight and experience in creating outstanding content that meets the very high standards expected by the youngest of audiences and which has the potential to positively impact their lives and that of future generations.”