Expectation Hires New Head for Factual Development

Expectation has tapped Sarah Harris as its new head of development for factual and factual drama, effective July 1.

Harris, previously head of development at Sandpaper Films, will oversee the factual and factual drama teams and spearhead the development of documentaries for terrestrial and global streamer markets.

At Sandpaper Films, Harris oversaw projects such as the feature documentary Doom Scroll: Andrew Tate & The Dark Side of the Internet for Sky Documentaries, as well as several unannounced projects for Netflix and Channel 4.

Prior to that, she served as deputy head of development at Raw, where she established its first podcast division and originated and worked across a range of factual programming, including Ripper, The Man Who Played with Fire, Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, Parole and Paddy & Christine: Our Family and Autism.

Before that, she served as head of development for Century Films and was a development producer for Minnow Films.

At Expectation, Harris will report to Colin Barr, creative director of factual and factual drama.

“Having admired Expectation’s incredible output from afar for many years, I’m thrilled to be joining such a talented team and to be part of the next exciting phase of the company’s growth,” Harris said.

“Sarah is such a dynamic and smart ideas generator and a perfect fit for the factual team at Expectation,” Barr commented. “Wherever she’s worked, she’s always added huge value and brings a deep understanding of premium docs and negotiating access, which will be invaluable. She’s also fantastically collaborative and supportive, and I can’t wait to start building a fresh, exciting and ambitious slate with her.”