Wesley Sysum

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT WESLEY SYSUM

Highly creative, confident and collaborative Broadcast and Digital Head of Development with 17 years’ experience developing, and working on, award winning Factual Entertainment, Entertainment, Digital, Audio and branded formats for the UK, US and international market, such as: Made in Chelsea, Real Housewives of Cheshire, TFI Friday (2015) Antiques Roadshow, The Unique Boutique, Britain’s Best Parent, The Great Home Transformation with IKEA, Hungry For It, Meet The Markels, In Bed with Jamie Laing, Pinterest x BBC Studios and Hey Duggee & Joe Wicks: The Workout Badges (YouTube). Currently Head of Development for idle Industries. Prior to that, I was a creative lead at BBC Studios Factual Entertainment - co-leading a large development team with bases across the country. I created engaging, returnable, and cost effective, formats for broadcast, digital and audio. I’ve created and pitched our content to a range of UK broadcasters, international streamers and brands including Netflix, Disney, Channel 4, ITV, Sky, HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery, UKTV, Sony, Nandos, RSPCA and Pinterest. Before that, I worked in Development and Production at Monkey Kingdom for over 10 years. I’m a highly knowledgeable and inventive user of AI, state of the art cameras across formats and the Adobe Creative Suite. I cut our team’s sizzles, with over 14 years shooting and edit experience (including for broadcast), and produce premium pitch decks and posters. I have great commissioner relationships across the industry and, in my current role, also lead on premium talent conversations with extensive relationships with talent agencies. I was also a strategic lead at BBCS Factual Entertainment, identifying and utilising our brand strengths in terms of trust, scale and broadcasting excellence to win business, as well as identifying trends and gaps in the broadcast, digital and audio market to grow our network and attack commercial opportunities with new brands, platforms and international partners. As well as development, I’m also an experienced and proactive Edit Producer and have worked on a range of Factual Entertainment and Entertainment titles including: Real Housewives of Cheshire, TFI Friday, Meet the Markels, Make Me a Dealer, Born in Chelsea: JP and Binky\'s Baby and Alan Carr’s Grease Night Live.