Nick Hayden.
The ABC has promoted entertainment manager Nick Hayden, who created the iso-comedy At Home Alone Together, Whovians, Tonightly and the Australia Talks live show, to head of entertainment.
Hayden will drive the entertainment slate including Gruen, Hard Quiz, Mad As Hell, The Weekly, You Can’t Ask That and the upcoming Reputation Rehab.
His appointment completes a restructuring of the content divisions which resulted in the exit of head of entertainment and factual Josie Mason-Campbell.
Last week Jennifer Collins was named the ABC’s inaugural head of factual and culture, leading the development and production across arts, religion, science, education, health, history and social affairs.
Earlier Todd Abbott came on board as head of comedy, a role held by a number of execs in an acting capacity after the departure of Rick Kalowski.
Since joining the ABC in 2016 as an executive producer, entertainment, he developed and produced the Spicks and Specks Reunion Specials, The House with Annabel Crabb and Why Are You Like This – part of the ABC’s Fresh Blood initiative to support emerging comedic talent
Sally Riley, ABC head of drama, entertainment and Indigenous content, said: “Nick has shown great instinct and drive for developing and producing entertainment shows. He has passion and enthusiasm for new ideas and talent, along with a genuine interest in fostering and protecting the ABC’s current slate of shows.”
Hayden said: “The ABC has always been the home of creative risk taking – where else would you be allowed to make a new show in six weeks in the middle of a pandemic? The screen industry needs that kind of support now more than ever, so it’s a genuine honour to take on the role of head of entertainment within an organisation I love.”
The entertainment slate also includes Tomorrow Tonight, Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery, Sammy J, The Yearly, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the New Year’s Eve Fireworks show, Dream Gardens, live music show The Set and documentary Recovery: The Music & The Mayhem.
Before joining the ABC he created and was the founding executive producer of SBS’s The Feed and a member of the ABC’s topical news show Hungry Beast, under Andrew Denton and Anita Jacoby.
Earlier in his career he was a producer/presenter for the Foxtel Movie Show and a senior producer at Network 10.