As part of the restructure designed to support what it says will be ambitious growth plans, BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production and distribution arm, has announced two new appointments at the heart of its Kids & Family division.
Reporting to BBC Studios Kids & Family managing director Cecilia Persson, Edward Barnieh will now be vice president of development, while Alexandra McGrail will take the reins as head of commercial.
Barnieh will lead a development production team across a large portfolio of development projects, providing expert creative direction across multiple genres, managing transition from development to production - while assessing marketplace opportunities and risks. He joins BBC Studios from Netflix, where his roles included manager, animation series, EMEA, based in London and Manager, international originals, Kids & Family, APAC, based in Singapore. Prior to that he spent some seven years at Warner Bros Discovery in Hong Kong, where he was latterly director, acquisitions and co-productions; and over five years at Nickelodeon in similar roles.
McGrail (pictured) will lead a commercial and business development team, identifying and securing commercial opportunities for kids’ content and managing the total commercial Kids & Family budget. The new exec brings knowledge of children’s content partnerships from her previous role as senior commercial manager, BBC Studios, which she took up in May 2021 on her return to the BBC. Prior to re-joining the BBC, she was senior commercial manager at Argonon, commercial manager at Leopard Pictures and an editor at Channel 4.
Barnieh joins on 21 November 2022, and will be based in London, whilst McGrail is already in post and is based at BBC Studios in Salford.
Announcing the appointments, Persson said: “Our ambition is to deliver high quality content that leaves a lasting impression and has the power to make a difference to the lives of kids and their families everywhere. Attracting the very best talent, forging creative partnerships and focusing on making programming that reflects and inspires children will help us achieve this. I’m delighted that Edward and Alexandra will be using their considerable talent and experience to help deliver our ambition.”
Barnieh will lead a development production team across a large portfolio of development projects, providing expert creative direction across multiple genres, managing transition from development to production - while assessing marketplace opportunities and risks. He joins BBC Studios from Netflix, where his roles included manager, animation series, EMEA, based in London and Manager, international originals, Kids & Family, APAC, based in Singapore. Prior to that he spent some seven years at Warner Bros Discovery in Hong Kong, where he was latterly director, acquisitions and co-productions; and over five years at Nickelodeon in similar roles.
McGrail (pictured) will lead a commercial and business development team, identifying and securing commercial opportunities for kids’ content and managing the total commercial Kids & Family budget. The new exec brings knowledge of children’s content partnerships from her previous role as senior commercial manager, BBC Studios, which she took up in May 2021 on her return to the BBC. Prior to re-joining the BBC, she was senior commercial manager at Argonon, commercial manager at Leopard Pictures and an editor at Channel 4.
Barnieh joins on 21 November 2022, and will be based in London, whilst McGrail is already in post and is based at BBC Studios in Salford.
Announcing the appointments, Persson said: “Our ambition is to deliver high quality content that leaves a lasting impression and has the power to make a difference to the lives of kids and their families everywhere. Attracting the very best talent, forging creative partnerships and focusing on making programming that reflects and inspires children will help us achieve this. I’m delighted that Edward and Alexandra will be using their considerable talent and experience to help deliver our ambition.”
