Emily Smith, Commissioning Editor, BBC Factual is to join Wall to Wall as Creative Director, starting from March 2022.
Smith joined the BBC in 2018 and has commissioned titles including Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make Up Star, Sort Your Life Out, Forensics: The Real CSI, The Grand Party Hotel, Inside the Supermarket, Miriam’s Dead Good Adventure and the forthcoming series Yorkshire Born, as well as singles including Abused by my Girlfriend and Bad Influencer.
In her three years as commissioning editor she also oversaw popular returning formats such as Who Do You Think You Are? and The Choir (The Choir: Our School by the Tower, The Choir: Aylesbury Prison, The Choir: Singing for Britain). Prior to joining the BBC, Smith series produced and directed a range of factual shows including The Week the Landlords Moved In (Boundless/BBC One), Employable Me (Optomen/BBC Two), One Born Every Minute (Dragonfly TV/Channel 4) and An Hour to Save Your Life(Boundless/BBC Two).
Smith will report to Managing Director and Head of Wall to Wall, Leanne Klein and her focus will be developing and delivering new factual formats and large-scale factual entertainment series for UK broadcasters and global streamers. Emily will also join the senior management team at Wall to Wall, alongside Jeremy Dear, Creative Director International, Director of Production, Helena Ely, Director of Development, Gavin Rota and Director of Finance, Craig Duff.
Wall to Wall’s recent output includes the latest series of Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC One), Growing Up Animal (Disney+), Nadiya’s Fast Flavours (BBC One), multi-award-winning Long Lost Family (ITV) and Glow Up (BBC Three and Netflix). Their upcoming projects include returning drama Waterloo Road (a co-production with Rope Ladder Fiction for BBC One).
Emily Smith said: “It’s been a privilege to work with brilliant creatives in BBC Commissioning and the indie world – and to launch and nurture so many different kinds of factual series and singles. But I’ve also missed creating new shows and being closer to production. Having always admired Wall to Wall as setting the gold standard in TV that is both entertaining and enriching, I’m really excited to join the team to build on their rich slate and deliver more successful formats and factual entertainment hits.”
Leanne Klein, Managing Director and Head of Wall to Wall said: “I’m so excited to have Emily joining us. Having worked with her across multiple series over the past few years, I know she is a passionate and talented executive who is as smart in a pitch as she is in the edit. She’s proved herself to be a champion of the best sort of popular television and, as we super-charge our development of returning series for the UK and streamers, she’s the perfect person to take the lead.”
Patrick Holland, Director of Factual, Arts & Classical Music said: “Emily has been a simply terrific commissioning editor, bringing huge passion, skill, heart and integrity to a vast slate of programmes. She has innovated with new returning series like Forensics and Glow Up, brought fresh thinking with new popular formats like Sort Your Life Out and delivered stand-out documentaries like Abused by my Girlfriend and Bad Influencer. Emily has been a brilliant champion of smaller indies and producers from diverse backgrounds and leaves the BBC having made a real mark. We wish her all success in her new venture.”
Wall to Wall is part of Warner Bros. International Television Production.
Jon Creamer
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