MGM Hires EVP of Factual Series, Docs & Specials

Richard Bedser has joined MGM Television’s newly launched international unscripted division as executive VP of factual series, documentaries and specials.

Bedser will be based out of MGM’s U.K. headquarters. The announcement was made by MGM’s president of unscripted and alternative television and Orion Television, Barry Poznick, to whom Bedser will report.

Throughout his career, Bedser has produced several series and specials for American and U.K. broadcasters. A frequent collaborator of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, Bedser was the Emmy-nominated showrunner on History’s The Bible miniseries and the follow-up 12-part drama A.D. for NBC. He also executive produced the feature film Son of God.

Bedser spent five years as the managing and creative director of Burnett and Downey’s LightWorkers Media, based out of London. Bedser’s additional credits include writing of the multi-Emmy-winning Gettysburg (History) and writing and directing Ocean of Fear for Discovery’s Shark Week, among many others. Prior to joining MGM, Bedser most recently served as the joint managing director of Two Halves Pictures, an All3Media company.

MGM’s new international unscripted division is focused on local development of the studio’s formats and the development of original IP targeted for the dynamic landscape of content providers in the U.K.

“Richard is a prolific producer whose knowledge and experience working in both the U.S. and U.K. markets will be invaluable to us as we continue to expand MGM TV’s unscripted footprint internationally,” said Poznick. “He has a proven track record in creating powerful and commercially successful documentary series and specials across multiple networks, and we’re excited to launch our new international docs division under his stewardship.”

“Roma and I are delighted that Richard has re-joined us. Every time we’ve worked together it’s resulted in critical and commercial successes and we know that’s about to happen again in an even bigger way,” added Burnett, MGM’s worldwide television chairman.