EXCLUSIVE: Bunim/Murray Productions, the Emmy-winning reality production company which recently launched Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Girrrls on Amazon Prime, Don’t Forget The Lyrics on Fox and is bringing its hit franchise The Challenge to CBS this summer, is bolstering its development and current programming teams, promoting three and adding four new staffers.
Veteran producers Gayani Wanigaratne and Steve Ezell have both been named Senior Vice President, Development & Current. Additionally, Michael Driscoll and Nicholette Dixon have been tapped as Vice President, Development, Monique Berduo joins BMP as Director, Development, Nikki Cameron has been promoted to Director of Development and Lauryn McCollum will serve as a development associate.
“We are committed to investing in our development and current programming teams as our creative focus has continued to evolve,” said Julie Pizzi, Bunim/Murray President. “We are thrilled to expand our in-house expertise to help us further grow our content creation efforts.”
BAFTA-winning producer Wanigaratne, originally from the UK, joins Bunim/Murray as SVP, Development and Current. Since moving to LA in 2019, she has worked as a development consultant and Co-Executive Producer for Universal Television Alternative Studios.
Previously, she produced several unscripted hits in the UK, including Love Island, Britain’s Got Talent, The X-Factor, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and This Morning. Wanigaratne also worked as a commissioning executive for ITV Network.
Ezell, who has been with Bunim/Murray since joining as an intern on The Real World in 2003, has been promoted to SVP Development & Current. Hhas served as an executive producer on numerous BMP series, including Bad Girls Club for Oxygen and six seasons of Ball In the Family for Facebook Watch. Ezell spent the first half of his career serving as Director of Photography for over 30 different projects across a variety of networks.
Dixon, who has been named Vice President of Development, joins Bunim/Murray from GRB Studios, where she was previously Vice President of Development, as well. At GRB Studios, Dixon worked on the upcoming A&E series Digital Additiction. Before that, Dixon was on the development team at Electus (now Propagate), where she worked on such series as CNBC’s Cash Pad and FYI’s Working the Room.
Driscol has been with BMP since 2018. He has sold projects to Hulu, HBO Max, Discovery, Travel, and Lifetime, as well as helped develop shows such as MTV’s Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club and Amazon Prime’s Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Girrrls. Prior to joining BMP, he worked at 20th Television, formerly 20th Century Fox Television, and Sundance Institute.
Berduo previously worked in development for several ITV America-owned studios, most recently Sirens Media. During her time at Sirens Media, she helped develop such series as Honestly Loren for Snapchat, Lost Resort for TBS, Nikita Unfiltered for Snapchat and The Wedding Coach for Netflix. Before Sirens Media, Berduo was on the development teams for ITV Entertainment and Gurney Productions.
Cameron previously worked in production and operations at NBCUniversal’s Bravo, E! and Oxygen networks. During her time at NBCU, Cameron worked on such series as The Real Housewives franchise, Summer House, Total Bellas and Botched. She began her career in Entertainment PR, working with TV & film clients such as WEtv, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Fox News and MSNBC.
McCollum previously served as a coordinating producer for a production agency. She also worked at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Adobe Creative Club Network and CELEB magazine.
“We are really excited to welcome a group of talented, creative new members to the team, along with elevating our incredible in-house execs,” added Rupert Dobson, EVP, Development. It’s a truly multi-faceted team that puts BMP in a great position for the future.”
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