Channel 4 appoints Adam Adler as Creative Director

He will report to Sarah Dillistone, who leads the division, and will help develop original formats and build intellectual property for the broadcaster.

Channel 4 has appointed BAFTA-winning creative showrunner and executive producer Adam Adler as Creative Director of its in-house production business.

Adler is Dillistone’s first appointment since she joined Channel 4 in February. He brings extensive experience across entertainment, reality television and format development, having worked as a creator, executive producer and commissioning editor.

Adam Adler brings extensive format development experience

Adler began his career at Endemol, where he co-created reality formats including Bar Wars and The Games. He subsequently held senior creative positions at Granada, Objective and Potato, and established his own production label, Gameface.

He also served as Commissioning Editor for Entertainment at Channel 4, overseeing programmes including Beauty & the Geek, Derren Brown: The Heist, Death Wish: Live and 8 Out of 10 Cats. His production credits include The Cube and the upcoming Channel 4 reality series Derren Brown: Incognito.

Channel 4 focuses on building original intellectual property

Channel 4's strategy to develop and own intellectual property aims to create additional revenue streams and support sustainable reinvestment in the UK's creative industry. The move follows the removal of the publisher-broadcaster restriction under the Media Act 2024.

An operational firewall will separate the in-house production business, which will operate as an ideas studio, from Channel 4's commissioning activities. Sarah Dillistone reports to Priya Dogra, Chief Executive of Channel 4.

Sarah Dillistone: "I’m incredibly lucky Adam chose to join us, he is an unrivalled creative force and one of the most prolific format creators around spanning gameshow, reality and entertainment. Adam’s experience originating ambitious and unpredictable formats from The Cube to Channel 4’s brand new reality series Incognito, coupled with my own background originating and showrunning reality, social experiments and relationship shows, makes for an exciting mix."

Sarah Dillistone expands Channel 4's production leadership

Adam Adler, Creative Director, Channel 4: "I’m really excited to be joining Dilly at the start of this new venture. Channel 4 has always had attitude and originality, and I’d love us to bottle some of that up and take it out into the world. The ambition is to create exciting ideas with that same spirit, for TV and beyond."

Dillistone is a BAFTA-winning executive producer whose credits include internationally successful formats such as Perfect Match, The Ultimatum and Made in Chelsea. She has executive produced series for Fox, Hulu, Peacock and Netflix, including The Ultimatum: Queer Love and the Paris & Nicole reunion show.

Earlier in her career, Dillistone held prominent creative roles at Lime Pictures and Monkey Kingdom, part of NBCUniversal, where she helped shape British structured reality television through programmes including The Only Way Is Essex.

www.channel4.com

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