Marjorie Kaplan is to leave Discovery following a restructure of its London-based creative teams.
Kaplan, President of International Content, moved to London a year ago to commission shows that could play internationally for Discovery.
The International Content Group will now become part of the UK/Ireland business, led by Susanna Dinnage.
Dinnage has been promoted to President and MD, Discovery Networks UK/Ireland, with her responsibilities expanding to include content creation for the international business.
Kaplan will leave her role at the end of the year, following a transition period working with Dinnage and the internationally based creative teams.
Kaplan said: “Discovery’s international business must prioritize local relevance to best serve international audiences and drive growth, and further leverage its incredibly creative talent around the world. As a result, the current central structure doesn’t make sense for the company or for me. Although this is a bittersweet decision for me, I expect it to also be the start of new adventures as exciting as those I have undertaken while at Discovery.”
In her new role, Dinnage will both develop new genres and formats for UK audiences with an eye toward global appeal, and work with international teams to source the best ideas that can travel to other markets and worldwide.
Dinnage has spent more than 20 years working in the TV industry, beginning her career at MTV and then part of the launch team behind Channel 5. She began working at Discovery seven years ago, working in a number of roles, latterly General Manager of the UK and Benelux businesses.
Dinnage said: “Aligning our London based content creation business with the UK business really underscores our creative and financial commitment to the UK production community….I am really looking forward to harnessing our own talent and ideas with the innovative production sector in the UK to develop new ideas, talent, genres, formats and funding models that resonate both with UK audiences and across the globe.
JB Perrette, President, Discovery Networks International, said: “Susanna is a great creative and commercial leader. She has successfully grown the UK business over the last seven years and has been instrumental in building our brands and channels in our biggest market outside the US. Redeploying resources to the UK team, as well as bolstering the innovative work done by Discovery’s local creative teams worldwide, will ensure a healthy pipeline of content for the company’s loved brands around the world.”
“Marjorie is an incredible business leader, widely admired both internally and externally, having transformed multiple businesses at the company and with long-running hit series on virtually all our channels, to her credit. I know she is excited to seek out an entirely new challenge, but her legacy will remain and she will be missed,” said Perrette.
Staff Reporter
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