EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ has created a top development job in the UK as the streamer continues to expand its EMEA team.
A job ad posted two days ago said Disney is seeking an “experienced, strategic, creative, and highly collaborative Senior Manager, Development, UK Scripted,” to join the Rivals and Extraordinary commissioning team, which is run out of London by EMEA content boss Angela Jain.
The person’s role will be “pivotal in shaping the future of Disney+’s UK scripted slate,” according to the ad. A Disney spokesman confirmed the role is newly created in the EMEA team.
The top development job will likely attract some serious candidates in a sector that has been hit by hardship of late. Earlier this week, a Film & TV Charity report revealed almost three quarters (74%) of workers in UK film and TV have considered leaving the sector over the past year due to financial pressure.
Since taking on the role, Jain has been making tweaks to the team including promoting four members of her team, one being Rivals commissioner Lee Mason, who moved up to VP of Scripted.
Jain appears to have been given the green light by her boss Eric Schrier to commission some splashy content. Speaking at RTS Cambridge a few months ago, Disney-owned FX boss John Landgraf said Disney was trying to “reposition as much capital as we can outside the U.S.”
Since Landgraf’s remark, Disney+ EMEA has revealed Tony McNamara comedy series Mosquito starring Nicholas Hoult and Daisy Edgar-Jones and an unscripted show with Alan Carr in which the Celebrity Traitors winner realizes his longtime dream of owning a castle. It struck a deal with Adolescence co-creator Stephen Graham’s indie and is developing a show with Fool Me Once writer Danny Brocklehurst, we revealed last month. Disney+ EMEA’s biggest hitter, Rivals, will launch its second season in May.
Jain will deliver a keynote at Series Mania in a few weeks’ time where she will likely update on all this. All eyes will then be trained on what happens to international once new CEO Josh D’Amaro takes the reins.