Top BBC drama exec to speak at SPAA Conference

Kate Harwood, Head of Drama Production (England) for the BBC, will be a keynote speaker at Screen Forever: SPAA Conference 2013 to be held in Melbourne in November.

The conference offers the ultimate networking event for screen professionals across all sectors of the media and entertainment industry in Australasia. Delegates, who include film and television producers and executives, content creators and games developers, sales agents and financiers, games and interactive companies and government funding executives, will have unparalleled access not only to each other, but innovative thinkers and inspiring industry leaders from Australia and around the world.

In 2006, Harwood was appointed Head of Series and Serials for BBC Drama Production, then in 2008 was elevated to Controller, Series and Serials. Her leadership has delivered some of the most critically acclaimed and top-rated dramas of recent years, including Cranford, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Silent Witness, Luther and Silk. Forthcoming dramas include Quirke starring Gabriel Byrne, the critically acclaimed Burton and Taylor and The Musketeers, which is coming to the new premium BBC channel in 2014.

In December last year she was appointed Head of Drama Production, England giving her responsibility for all in-house drama series and serial production in London and Salford.

In her keynote address, Harwood will give a rare insight into in-house drama production at the BBC, as well as discuss the BBC’s recent moves to commission internationally. Deirdre Brennan, BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand’s Director of Content will interview Harwood and discuss the BBC’s most recent example with her – Jane Campion’s astonishing crime drama Top of The Lake, co-produced with UKTV in Australia & New Zealand and other international partners.

In addition to her keynote address, Harwood will participate in the International Partnership Market (a new event at this year’s conference that matches local producers with their international counterparts interested in co-productions and as well as meetings with distributors, financiers and international sales agents).

Harwood’s participation in Screen Forever: SPAA Conference contributes to one of the three themes of this year’s event – The Craft. With her background in script editing and vast experience producing across a wide range of genres – from Victorian classics to thrillers and contemporary legal dramas, from longrunning serials to short-run groundbreaking dramas – Harwood will provide a valuable insight into the nature of UK television and the BBC’s highly successful creative process.