BBC Heavyweights Rose Garnett and Piers Wenger Join A24 to Oversee International Slate

01.03.2022 - 19:11 / variety.com

A24, the indie studio behind “Moonlight” and “Lady Bird,” has tapped BBC executives Rose Garnett and Piers Wenger to oversee its international film and TV slate.The appointments are a major coup for A24 — and a heavy loss for the BBC — given Garnett and Wenger are the go-to execs in the U.K. for film and scripted television, respectively, anywhere the Beeb is concerned.Garnett most recently served as director of BBC Film, where she has overseen a slate of movies including “The Power of the Dog,” “The Nest” and “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always.” Prior to that, she worked at Film4 where she helped produce the likes of “The Favourite,” “Room” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.” Wenger served as director of BBC Drama, where he has overseen such hit television series as “I May Destroy You,” “Bodyguard,” “A Very English Scandal” and “Normal People.” Previously he was head of drama at Channel 4 where he commissioned “Humans,” “National Treasure,” and “The End of The F**cking World.”Both Garnett and Wenger will leave the BBC in May.

Eva Yates will serve as acting director of BBC Film in the interim, while Ben Irving will be acting director of BBC Drama until an appointment is made.Both Garnett and Wenger will continue to be based out of London.Reflecting on his departure, Wenger quipped that “after a decade as a drama commissioner, it is high time I gave someone else a go.”He continued: “The last six years working for Charlotte and the BBC have been more creatively challenging, more emboldening and more fun than anyone has the right to in the name of work. I am indebted to the BBC and the extraordinary range of writers, producers and directors it has been my privilege to work alongside.“There are mountains to climb