Banijay UK is doubling down on factual drama.
After eight years running Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain producer Dragonfly, Richard Bond is leaving the indie but remaining in the Banijay stable as Creative Director, Factual Drama.
In the newly-created role starting next month, Bond will build a slate of factual drama commissions, working with scripted labels across the group to develop and produce scripted projects based on real life events. He is already working on a scripted series with The Buccaneers producer The Forge for a major broadcaster, according to Banijay. The move comes with factual dramas like Mr Bates vs the Post Office, Adolescence and Toxic Town having lit up the small screen of late, despite a funding crisis in UK scripted.
Bond’s place at Dragonfly will be taken by Ros Ponder and Will Rowson, who become Co-Creative Directors, and Alison Seymour, who takes on the Director of Production role. Along with Bond, they will report to Banijay UK CEO Patrick Holland.
At Ambulance and Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain producer Dragonfly, which is one of the UK’s most prolific factual producers, Bond oversaw factual dramas including the BBC and Netflix’s Then Barbara Met Alan, which was written by Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne and Genevieve Barr. Prior to Dragonfly he worked on several written by Ben Chanan for Channel 4 including Blackout, The People Next Door and Maisie Williams-starrer Cyberbully.
Holland said: “Richard is a fantastic leader, and the team have won numerous awards under his direction and have been responsible for some of the biggest documentary brands on television. He has always had a passion for factual drama and is the perfect creative leader to galvanize ideas in this growing market.”
Bond added: “Audiences are increasingly hungry for factual drama, so having already had the pleasure of working with incredible writers like Jack Thorne, Genevieve Barr and Ben Chanan in this genre, the prospect of collaborating with Banijay’s best-in-class scripted labels to bring more of these projects to fruition is a dream come true.”
