Otto Baxter: Not a F***ing Horror Story production company, Story Films, is bolstering its Factual division with three hires and promotions “following a raft of commissions for soon-to-be-announced premium documentary series ordered for a range of platforms and channels.”
Emmy-nominated Adnan Mohammed joins as VP of Development, a newly-created role based in New York. As well as leading the development of all unscripted projects, Mohammed will spearhead further growth into the streamer market, focusing on limited series and feature documentaries. He will also explore and develop co-production opportunities with US partners.
Mohammed has over a decade’s experience creating premium documentaries and formats for networks globally, most recently as US-based Head of Development at October Films. He has also worked at various production companies in a variety of development roles and started his career as a runner at the BBC.
Story’s Executive Producer Unscripted, Adam Hopkins, has been promoted to Head of Factual where he will oversee the documentary production slate, whilst continuing to drive innovation in the crossover between Story’s documentary and drama teams.
Before joining All3Media-backed Story in 2019, Adam was a freelance director on shows including Meet the Lords and Valley Cops and was executive producer at Vice Media.
His credits at Story include the award-winning Fever Pitch: The Rise of the Premier League and Linford, as well as the BAFTA-nominated Losing It: Our Mental Health Emergency which he executive produced for Channel 4.
Award-winning filmmaker Liza Williams, who won a BAFTA for The Yorkshire Ripper Files- A Very British Crime Story, returns as Executive Producer, having first worked with Story as Director of Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare– the company’s first project for Netflix. After that she went on to direct a further two series for the streamer. At Story she will work across the unscripted slate, focused on single documentaries for streamers and PBSs.
The three posts are effective immediately and will report to Creative Director, Peter Beard, who said: “These new appointments underline our growth ambitions and reflect our commitment to the best unscripted stories for both UK and global audiences. Adam’s promotion is richly deserved following a number of successes including executive producing Grierson-nominated lip-sync documentary Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax and Channel 4’s The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot. Adnan has a brilliant energy, a fantastic track record in the UK and US and an ability to identify a story that will break through. Liza is one of the best filmmakers working in the UK and we’re really excited that she’s now joining our team to work on some really compelling projects.”
Story Films was founded in 2016 by BAFTA-winning filmmakers Peter Beard and David Nath, with Beard running the premium unscripted division and Nath leading the high end drama output.
Story’s recent unscripted programmes include the three-part Manhattan Alien Abduction for Netflix, Linford for the BBC, Emmy-winning Sky documentary Otto Baxter: Not a F***ing Horror Story and Channel 4’s The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot.
Recent drama credits include Night Caller – one of Channel 5’s top ten dramas of 2024, thriller Too Good to be True and crime mystery Witness Number 3, also for Channel 5.
Jon Creamer
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