ABC TV Children's restructures commissioning team

ABC TV’s Children’s division is undergoing a restructure in 2012, following the planned departure, at the end of March, of Carla de Jong, Head of Commissioning and Development.
After four years with ABC Children’s, de Jong will relocate to Toronto where she will consult with both local and international companies in the development, financing and co-production of children’s content.
Tim Brooke-Hunt, Controller of ABC Children’s said “Carla’s part in the success of our children's channels over the past four years has been immense.
“She contributed greatly to the creation of ABC3, and to the revitalising of ABC4Kids. Together with Jan Stradling, Carla was responsible for the selection of our Studio 3 hosts - the faces of ABC3 - and for the creation of ABC4Kids' popular Giggle & Hoot hosting team.
“Carla also commissioned successful programs such as the dramas My Place and Dance Academy, the comedy series Prank Patrol, and numerous factual/reality programs. Many of these programs have won multiple awards at home and internationally. She has strengthened the diversity of our channels and she has contributed to the continued success of Play School.
“We will miss Carla enormously in the future, but all of us at ABC Children's TV wish her well in what will surely continue to be a stellar career in TV,” he said.
de Jong’s resignation has triggered a restructure, which will now see the Children’s TV commissioning department divided into two distinct areas – Animation and Live Action.
Chris Rose, the current Vice President, Programming and Development at HIT Entertainment in the UK, has been appointed to head the animation area. He will take up his post at the start of May, leading ABC TV’s commissioning of Animation for ABC3 and ABC4Kids, reporting directly to Brooke-Hunt.
Rose was responsible for new content development at HIT and was Executive Producer on HIT’s successful new pre-school series Mike the Knight, which he developed.
Chris’ previous positions include roles at the BBC as Acquisitions Executive for BBC’s Children’s and most recently, as Acquisitions Manager for CBeebies, and where he served as Executive Producer on commissioned and acquired animation for under-sixes.
“Chris will contribute greatly to the continued success of Australia's animation industry and to ABC TV's role as a leading broadcaster of animation for children,” said Brooke-Hunt.
“ABC TV is fortunate to work with many of Australia's most talented creators of animated entertainment both on-air and on-line. We look forward to expanding these important partnerships in the future under Chris' direction and to working with a growing array of international partners in the co-production and co-financing of our animated programs.”
Heading up the Live Action Children’s TV commissioning area will be Simon Hopkinson, who for the last three years had been responsible, under de Jong’s direction, for the commissioning of drama and animation for ABC TV's children's channels.
“Simon has contributed significantly to our success in these areas, and I am delighted that he has agreed to head-up our Live Action commissioning area reporting directly to me, said Brooke-Hunt. Simon will also continue to represent ABC Children’s TV in our on-going co-production relationship with CCTV (China) Children’s Channel.”
From the beginning of April, Simon will also supervise Thierry Bled, who will continue to focus upon the commissioning of factual/reality genres for our channels under Simon’s guidance.
Aaron Mulheron, Commissioning and Development Co-Coordinator, will continue to work across all genres and areas. He remains the first point of contact for independent producers.
ABC Children’s TV’s Programming and Acquisition area, lead by Barbara Uecker, is unaffected by these changes.
Source: ABC TV