C4’s head of specialist factual John Hay is joining The Garden as chief creative officer.
He will work alongside CEO Magnus Temple and Managing Director and COO Scarlett Ewens.
Hay’s commissions while at C4 include SAS: Who Dares Wins, Grayson Perry’s All Man and Divided Britain, Walking the Nile, Our Gay Wedding: The Musical, The Vote, D-Day: As It Happens and the reburial of Richard III.
Hay said: “This is an irresistible job. I’ve loved my five years at Channel 4, and I’ll always be grateful to Ralph and Jay for their inspiring leadership and unflagging support. But I’ve long admired The Garden for their rare ability to combine quality, scale and innovation, for the way they can make me laugh, cry, and see the world from a different perspective, and for the incredibly talented team they’ve assembled at every level of the company.”
Hay’s appointment follows the departure in March of The Garden co-founder Nick Curwin.
It also comes as The Garden makes a series of promotions. Nicola Hill has been promoted to Director of Production and will join Hay on the company’s Board. Kate Collier becomes Creative Director working closely with Hay and Temple to oversee the company’s new business, whilst exec-ing key projects. Zac Beattie and Emma Tutty will both jointly serve as Head of Documentaries and Spencer Kelly is to be made Head of Factual. Chloë Solomon, who is currently Head of Factual Formats, will be made Head of Popular Factual.
Temple said: “I’m feeling very ambitious for The Garden and have thought carefully about how to grow the company whilst ensuring we stay true to our DNA. These are richly deserved promotions, but they also give our talented team more ownership and autonomy over specific areas of the company, which in turn should extend and expand what we can do.”
Temple added: “The final piece of the puzzle is John. I’m absolutely delighted that he’s decided to join us. I’ve been a massive admirer of him as a commissioner. Not only is he a brilliant creative, manager and strategist, but I think his ethos and ambitions are perfectly aligned with those of The Garden, so I’m incredibly excited by the potential of what we can do together”.
Staff Reporter
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