Matt Garside to manage burgeoning portfolio
BBC Worldwide has created a new role to oversee its investment in UK indies as its acquisition plans gather pace.
Matt Garside has been hired as director of independent production to manage the BBC’s commercial arm’s existing indie portfolio and lead future investment opportunities.
The position, akin to the one held by Channel 4’s head of Growth Fund Laura Franses, follows aggressive activity from the firm over the last 18 months.
BBCW has equity stakes in 16 indies ranging from a 73% majority investment in Baby Cow to a 49.9% share in Lookout Point. It also holds minority interests in companies including David Glover and Mark Raphael’s 72 Films and Alex Graham and Michael Jackson’s Two Cities.
Former Deloitte exec Garside has been at the BBC for 10 years – he is currently BBCW’s head of strategy and business development and was previously head of business affairs and commercial at BBC Television and a senior adviser on iPlayer.
Reporting to chief content officer Helen Jackson, he will sit on the company’s content board.
Jackson said: “Matt has impressed everyone at BBC Worldwide who has come into contact with him over the last year. He is blessed with that rare quality of a brilliantly strategic business mind coupled with an incredibly warm and collaborative personality.”
Garside added that the opportunity to champion British creatives was “incredibly exciting”.
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