Long-serving Foxtel executive, Brian Walsh, has formalised an extension to his consultancy agreement with The Foxtel Group that will see him now spearhead original drama development for the Foxtel and BINGE platforms.
Walsh has been a member of the senior management team since the company’s inception, in 1995, and has served as the Executive Director Of Television for over two decades.
Under the new agreement, Walsh will now serve as the Executive Director of Drama for the Foxtel Group, a role which will see him continue to play a pivotal role in content strategy and oversee all Australian commissioned scripted content for Foxtel and BINGE.
Confirming the new role, Brian Walsh stated;
“I have enjoyed every moment of my journey with Foxtel and am delighted to sign on for a further term and under new arrangements which will allow me to continue doing what I love most, telling Australian stories, whilst embarking on some new business opportunities more broadly within the entertainment industry,” he said.
“I have seen some incredible changes in the business and am excited for what the future holds. I am an entrepreneur at heart and will detail my broader business plans in due course.
For now, though, the key focus will continue to be Foxtel and delivering what I believe will be our strongest slate ever, of compelling Australian drama and entertainment,” he said.
Confirming the new role, Foxtel Chief Commercial and Content Officer Amanda Laing stated;
As we continue our transformation as Australia’s favourite entertainment company, now with more than 3 million entertainment subscribers, the role of our Original productions in attracting, retaining and engaging audiences has never been more important.
Despite a difficult period with COVID over the past two years, our Australian drama productions are on a roll. Just look at the recent success of Wentworth, Mr Inbetween, Love Me and now The Twelve. Not to mention the 20 nominations some of these shows garnered for the Group at the recent 2022 Logie Awards.
To continue to focus our investments in the highest quality Australian storytelling, I am delighted to announce that Brian Walsh will now focus exclusively on leading our Australian Originals drama division, including our scripted content strategy and consult to Foxtel on industry relations for the Group.
As we head into FY23, we have a significant number of scripted productions that have either just wrapped and will air later this year, are about to go into production or are in the early stages of development.
The scripts and stories that Brian and his team are discovering and developing are incredible, and it’s important for us to have the best in the business building an exceptional drama slate for the Group across Foxtel and BINGE.
Brian’s special ability and passion for great Australian storytelling was on show through the highly anticipated premiere of our Foxtel Original The Twelve.
The Twelve, along with our next BINGE Original, Colin from Accounts, had an incredible reception at the Screenings in LA a few weeks ago. We have a lot to look forward to as these series premiere on our platforms in the coming months, and even more new and returning scripted productions follow.
As Executive Director of Drama for the Foxtel Group, Brian will continue to be supported by Lana Greenhalgh and will continue to work closely with Ali Hurbert-Burns in commissioning for BINGE.
As Brian will focus exclusively on our scripted Original productions in his new remit, Marshall Heald will take on oversight of our unscripted production slate with the support of Wendy Moore and Howard Myers moving forward, an area with which he has great experience from his time at SBS.
