Sky is boosting its commissioning team to 30 as it reveals the successful applicants from diverse backgrounds chosen for its assistent commissioner scheme.
These include the co-creator of Sky Arts’ Broadcast Award-winning Life & Rhymes and development execs from Paramount, Left Bank and Blast! Films.
Sky director of original content Zi Bennett said the scheme was designed to bring new voices to the commissioning decision-making process and help in its goal of reflectting modern Britain on- and off-screen.
The broadcaster has partnered with the National Film and Television School, which will provide a programme of seminars, courses, personal coaching and mentoring.
Sky has established the positions as part of a £30 million commitment to tackle structural inequality, support diversity and inclusion, which the broadcaster announced in 2021. Its target is for its leadership team to be 5% Black and 20% BAME by 2025, up from 1% and 9% respectively in 2021.
The assistant commissioners are:
Factual
Ziyaad Desai
previous role: director with credits incluing Mother Theresa: For the Love of God, Bad Influencer and Ambulance,
Giberte Phanor
previous role: development executie, Blast! Films
Arts & entertainment
Leanne Cosby
previous role: theatre and dance producer, Barbican
reports to: Phil Edgar-Jones
Drama
Sholla Caramba-Coke
previous role: Development producer, Left Bank
reports to: Meghan Lyvers
Kids
Isaac Nurty
previous role: Manager of responsible productions, Sky; co-creator, Life & Rhymes (Sky Arts)
reports to: Lucy Murphy
Original film
Sabrina Parmar
previous role: development editor for Paramount
reports to: Julia Stuart
Comedy
To be confirmed
