HiddenLight poaches Blast! & BBC execs for senior appointments

Victoria Bax

Hillary Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions has made two senior appointments to newly created roles to help support the company’s continued growth.

Victoria Bax has been named as director of production and operations, with responsibility for overseeing HiddenLight’s business affairs, commercial and network negotiations as well as its slate of productions. She will also oversee company operations, supporting and developing HiddenLight’s growing team and leading on inclusion and company welfare.

Bax joins from Blast! Films where she was head of production, working across a slate of more than 100 different series in both the US and UK, including 999: What’s Your Emergency, Jeremy Kyle Show: Death on Daytime, Liverpool Narcos and Gold Rush: Our Race to Olympic Glory.

Prior to that, she was head of production at Breakthrough Media Network, overseeing staffing and productions, most of which were in hostile environments. She has also held production manager roles at ITV, Uppercut Films, Rain Media, World of Wonder and Plum Pictures.

Johnny Webb, CEO of HiddenLight Productions, said: “Vicki is one of the best heads of production in the business.  She has an outstanding track record of managing production teams and being a nurturing and inclusive leader.  That’s why she is so highly-respected in this field and a fantastic addition to our senior team.”

Amy Flanagan

Channel 4 reunion

The firm has also appointed Amy Flanagan as co-creative director & SVP of unscripted.  She will work alongside Siobhan Sinnerton, who was appointed as creative director & SVP unscripted last year, and will be responsible for growing the company’s slate of unscripted content globally.

The appointment reunites Flanagan and Sinnerton, who worked together at UK broadcaster Channel 4. As Channel 4’s deputy head of documentaries, then deputy head of factual, Flanagan commissioned titles including Murder Detectives, Hunted and 24 Hours in Police Custody. She worked with Sinnerton, then commissioning editor, news & current affairs, on several projects including My Son, the Jihadi and War Child.

Flanagan joins HiddenLight from her role as head of BBC Studios documentary unit, where she led the creative team and strategy.

“Amy has an incredible track record in award-winning series and we can’t wait to see her first ideas take shape,” said Webb.

Both Bax and Flanagan will report directly to Webb. Flanagan takes up her role immediately, whilst Bax starts on 5 December.

HiddenLight’s next project to air is In Her Hands, which will make its global debut on Netflix and in  theatres on 16 November. Produced in association with Propagate and Moondogs and filmed throughout two years, the documentary examines the story of Zarifa Ghafari, who, at 26, became one of Afghanistan’s first female mayors and the youngest to ever hold the position.