BBC Studios to rejig in LA amid scripted expansion

BBC Studios is reshuffling its operations in LA by creating a new streamer-focused role to drive its scripted business in the country, Broadcast International has learned.

The senior position will report into Ryan O’Dowd, who was recently appointed to become president of BBC Studios Global Productions LA, following the exit of Mark Linsey.

O’Dowd now oversees all production activity across the UK-based company’s US operations, including ABC hit Dancing With The Stars, Outlast for Netflix and Nation’s Dumbest for Fox.

But it is in scripted where BBCS sees the opportunity for further growth, with Matt Forde, president of BBC Studios Global Productions, pointing to opportunities from streamers.

“We’re rethinking our scripted strategy in LA and it’s going to be more streamer focused,” he told Broadcast International.

The senior scripted exec will report into O’Dowd and will focus purely on securing work with streamers, with Forde admitting US broadcast network demand for drama had declined.

It is understood deficits on US broadcast scripted shows are also increasing, while streamers are beginning to push back into scripted more fully following a year of reduced demand.

“It is a slight change in strategy, but more importantly it is a bit more streamer focused and format focused,” Forde continued. 

BBCS has enjoyed success with its scripted formats in the US, with local remakes of shows such as Ghosts performing well, the latter running to six seasons on CBS. 

Forde added that bringing all production under O’Dowd would help fuel BBCS’s output in the US, while aligning its team structure in the country to that used elsewhere would allow it to get more projects onto screen using BBCS production bases around the world.

“Our US scripted business was quite separate to the rest of the bases, and so now we’ve got the opportunity to swing it in under Ryan and connect all of that up.”