Tim Brooke-Hunt, both the Controller of children’s content across ABC Television and a key role model for civilised behaviour across the network, will leave in September.
On the phone, Tim Brooke-Hunt said that his future “is most likely to involve my return to working through the company I used to work through before I came to the ABC, which is called Pacific Vision.” He used to have shares in Sticky Pictures, but they were transferred to the co-holders when he started at the ABC to avoid conflicts of interest.
While he is relishing his escape from a 9-to-five routine when he leaves on September 14th, he expects to continue to have an active role in children’s entertainment.
By trade a chartered accountant with an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, he arrived in Melbourne to work in marketing in the mid-seventies.
He moved to Sydney in 1983 as the general manager of Burbank Films Australia, and was the executive producer for Yoram Gross Studio on all their animation. Set up in 2000, Pacific Vision provided executive producer and consulting services to producers of animation and children’s programs. By 2002, he was EP and founding partner in Sticky Pictures.
He became head of children’s content at the ABC in September 2007, so he has held the post for six years.
In his one blog post for the ABC, he described the clear messages he has received from the audience. According to the headings, comedy is king, animation rules, drama is a gamble, niche audiences matter, and the ABC is well able to “create and sustain commercially-successful pre-school brands”.
It is no surprise that the ABC children’s offering is very successful. It draws on a talented pool of kids’ TV makers, it has been funded properly by government, and it draws on a long and respected history, for which the recent kerfuffle about the alleged execution of Bananas in Pyjamas is solid evidence.
As the ABC points out in the release, “Children’s programs are now the most popular content on ABC TV’s iview service, accounting for more than 2 million program plays monthly.”
“Tim has facilitated a diverse offering of children’s content online and on mobile devices, allowing ABC TV to engage with young audiences in new ways….
Behind the scenes, “Tim has fostered partnerships with producers, distributors and international broadcasters, playing a leading role in establishing the Asian Animation Summit and developing ABC’s co-production relationships with Asian partners including China’s national broadcaster CCTV.”
On a personal level, he said, “I have been very involved in the Asian Animation Summit, and the ABC’s relationship with CCTV. I am very interested in continuing to have a focus on Asian production, and working with Asian partners.”
The ABC release acknowledges Tim;s leadership role in taking children’s programming “beyond the traditional areas of drama and animation into entertainment, sketch comedy, documentaries and factual/reality genres…”
Of his future, it says he will “pursue new opportunities in children’s entertainment”. Don’t expect to see him making balloon dinosaurs at your local farmers’ market any time soon.
