Bunim/Murray Adds to Development & Current Programming Teams

Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP), a division of Banijay Americas, has bolstered its development and current programming teams with a raft of promotions and new hires.

“We are committed to investing in our development and current programming teams as our creative focus has continued to evolve,” said Julie Pizzi, president of Bunim/Murray. “We are thrilled to expand our in-house expertise to help us further grow our content creation efforts.”

The company has named both veteran producers Gayani Wanigaratne and Steve Ezell senior VP of development and current. Michael Driscoll and Nicholette Dixon, meanwhile, have both been named VP of development. Monique Berduo has joined the studio as director of development, Nikki Cameron has been promoted to director of development and Lauryn McCollum will serve as a development associate.

Rupert Dobson, executive VP of development at Bunim/Murray, said: “We are really excited to welcome a group of talented, creative new members to the team, along with elevating our incredible in-house execs. It’s a truly multi-faceted team that puts BMP in a great position for the future.”

Wanigaratne, who joins Bunim/Murray as senior VP of development and current, has worked as a development consultant and co-executive producer for Universal Television Alternative Studios. She also worked as a commissioning executive for ITV Network. Having initially joined Bunim/Murray as an intern on The Real World in 2003, Ezell has also been promoted to senior VP of development and current. He has previously served as an executive producer on numerous BMP series.

Dixon, who has been named VP of development, joins Bunim/Murray from GRB Studios, where she was previously VP of development. Prior to that role, Dixon was on the development team at Electus (now Propagate). Driscoll, who has also been named VP of development, has been with BMP since 2018. Prior to joining BMP, he worked at Twentieth Television, formerly Twentieth Century Fox Television, and Sundance Institute.

Berduo, who joins Bunim/Murray as director of development, previously worked in development for several ITV America-owned studios, most recently Sirens Media. Before Sirens Media, Berduo was on the development teams for ITV Entertainment and Gurney Productions. Cameron, who has been promoted to director of development, previously worked in production and operations at NBCUniversal’s Bravo, E! and Oxygen networks. McCollum, who has joined BMP to serve as a development associate, previously served as a coordinating producer for a production agency.