BBC Studios ups Gráinne McNamara to VP Development Kids & Family

BBC Studios has announced that Gráinne McNamara is to take on a new leadership role spearheading the development team for its Kids & Family live action and animation business. McNamara joined BBC Studios last year as Executive Producer, Live Action and Development tasked with creating new IP and nurturing ideas in the live action space for young audiences, both globally and across the UK.

Her new role as VP Development, Live Action and Animation sees an expanded remit overseeing one development unit that will work on both live action and animation as Kids & Family continues to shift its editorial focus to these two genres. Under her leadership, the development team will continue to work closely with the Creative Leads in Kids & Family Productions as well as further aligning with the commercial, sales and brand and licencing teams .

Managing Director BBC Studios Kids & Family, Cecilia Persson, highlighted the executive's creativity: “Gráinne brings invaluable expertise in developing, producing and launching award-winning content so is the perfect choice to help drive forward the Kids & Family strategy. Our development function is the lifeblood of what we do and I’m delighted that someone of her experience and creativity will be at the forefront of our ambitious plans," stated. 

Meanwhile, Gráinne McNamara said they have a clear grasp of the area's tasks: “We have a very clear vision of where we want to take the Kids & Family business in order to drive global growth and develop an unrivalled content slate. Bringing our live action and animation development function together under one team will allow us to focus fully on these key areas and to continue creating the most innovative, impactful and inspiring content for family audiences around the globe," commented.

McNamara has held previous roles at 9Story Media Group, King Bert Productions and Disney. As VP Live-Action Development and Production at 9 Story, she produced/executive produced the award-winning A Kind Of Spark for CBBC 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.