The BBC has appointed Mandy Chang as the new Commissioning Editor of Storyville and Acquisitions following the departure of Kate Townsend last month.
For the past four and a half years Chang has worked for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) as Head of Arts and more recently as the Acting Head of Non-Scripted Television across the Entertainment, Factual, Live Events and Arts Departments.
Before this Chang worked as a documentary filmmaker, writer, series producer and executive producer for British indies and UK broadcasters. Her feature documentary: The Mona Lisa Curse, for Channel 4 won an Emmy, a Grierson, Rose D’Or and the Banff Grand Jury Prize.
As part of her new role, Chang will lead on factual acquisitions for BBC Content. To support her, the BBC announced that Hayley Reynolds has been appointed as the Assistant Commissioner, Storyville and that Jo Lapping has been appointed as the Assistant Commissioner, Acquisitions.
Reynolds has spent the last ten years producing for leading directors including Morgan Matthews, John Dower, Bruce Goodison, John Douglas, Dan Reed and Ursula MacFarlane. During this time she has worked on documentaries including BBC Three’s double BAFTA winning Our War and the BAFTA nominated Keeping Britain Alive for BBC Two.
For the last five years, Reynolds has been at Minnow Films developing and producing broadcast and theatrical documentaries, including Williams which will be released in cinemas this month. She also has a keen interest in short-form and digital platforms and recently produced Cancer Research UK’s Cancer is Happening Right Now advertising campaign which won four awards at the 2017 British Arrows.
Jo Lapping was formerly BBC Strand Manager responsible for a broad portfolio of programming across Storyville and BBC Factual Acquisitions. She has worked with a range of international filmmakers, distributors, co-production funding partners and industry organisations on over 600 documentary film projects for the BBC, including The Furthest, The Cult that Stole Children, Kings of Pastry, The Chinese Mayor, The Great Hip Hop Hoax, If A Tree Falls and Knuckle.
Chang said: “I am truly thrilled to be returning to the BBC, to work as the Commissioning Editor of Storyville and Acquisitions, after first working for the corporation, many moons ago, as a Trainee Assistant Producer and then as a freelance filmmaker. The BBC is the world’s greatest broadcaster and Storyville showcases the best international documentaries made by the most diverse and talented filmmakers around today. These are passionate people, whose extraordinary stories shine a light on the complex world we live in. To commission their films is a privilege and a responsibility. Continuing the good work of Nick Fraser and Kate Townsend, both of whom I admire greatly, is both daunting and exciting.”
Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, said: “We’re delighted that Mandy is joining us in this new role. She brings with her a genuine passion for and commitment to Storyville and international feature documentaries. Her work both as a film maker and more recently as a factual commissioner means she will also bring an experienced eye to acquisitions across all the factual genres. ”
Staff Reporter
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