BBC Studios hands Los Angeles scripted and unscripted to Ryan O'Dowd
BBC Studios has put its Los Angeles scripted and unscripted teams under one leader, promoting Ryan O'Dowd to run both sides of the business.
O'Dowd steps up from President, Unscripted to President, BBC Studios Global Productions LA, according to Deadline. The role brings together scripted, meaning dramas and comedies made from written scripts, and unscripted, meaning entertainment, reality and documentary shows.
Two senior executives are leaving as a result of the change. Mark Linsey, President, Scripted LA, will exit. Angie Stephenson, executive vice-president for scripted in Los Angeles, will also go.
O'Dowd is a long-standing Los Angeles executive for the BBC's commercial production arm. He was named executive vice-president for entertainment and music in 2021 after what was described at the time as a year of record growth in unscripted, as reported by Deadline.
Linsey arrived in Los Angeles after serving as the BBC's Controller of Entertainment in the United Kingdom. He spent three years leading the LA scripted operation.
Stephenson spent nearly 20 years with BBC Studios and its predecessors. As executive vice-president, she was responsible for creative development and production of scripted shows in Los Angeles.
The move follows a run of structural changes at the company. In May 2025, BBC Studios reorganised its production arm around Unscripted and Global Production units, as reported by Deadline. In July 2024, it aligned its United States and United Kingdom production teams as part of a label restructuring, according to Realscreen. In June, it sent Karl Warner to Los Angeles for a global formats role.
What makes this stand out is the scale of the job. One office will now develop comedies, dramas, entertainment formats and documentaries under the same leadership. For viewers, nothing changes immediately. For the crews and writers behind those shows, it decides who commissions their next series.
