TVREAL
All3Media-backed Story Films is expanding its unscripted team in the U.S. and U.K. following a raft of commissions for soon-to-be-announced documentary series.
Adnan Mohammed joins as VP of development, a newly created role based in New York. Mohammed will lead the development of all unscripted projects and spearhead further growth into the streamer market, focusing on limited series and feature documentaries. He will also explore and develop co-production opportunities with U.S. partners.
Mohammed most recently served as U.S.-based head of development at October Films. He has also worked at various production companies in a variety of development roles and started his career as a runner at the BBC.
Adam Hopkins, Story’s executive producer of unscripted, has been promoted to head of factual, where he will oversee the documentary production slate, while continuing to drive innovation in the crossover between Story’s documentary and drama teams. Hopkins was previously a freelance director on shows such as Meet the Lords and Valley Cops and was executive producer at Vice Media.
Liza Williams, who won a BAFTA for The Yorkshire Ripper Files—A Very British Crime Story, returns as executive producer, having first worked with story as director of Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare. After that, she went on to direct a further two series for the streamer. At Story, she will work across the unscripted slate, focused on single documentaries for streamers and pubcasters.
These three executives report into Peter Beard, creative director. Beard commented: “These new appointments underline our growth ambitions and reflect our commitment to the best unscripted stories for both U.K. and global audiences. Adam’s promotion is richly deserved following a number of successes, including executive producing Grierson-nominated lip-sync documentary Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax and Channel 4’s The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot. Adnan has a brilliant energy, a fantastic track record in the U.K. and U.S. and an ability to identify a story that will break through. Liza is one of the best filmmakers working in the U.K., and we’re really excited that she’s now joining our team to work on some really compelling projects.”
