Sarah Asante - Commissioning Editor, Comedy - UKTV The Wonder Women Podcast with Ria Hebden

Sarah Asante was the first ever black, female Commissioner in BBC history and is now an award-winning Commissioning Editor at the multi-channel broadcaster, UKTV where she’s responsible for seeking out, developing, commissioning and executive-producing, scripted comedy shows for Dave and Gold. Sarah joined UKTV from the BBC where she commissioned the cult-hit sketch show FAMALAM along with comedy pilots, Dreaming Whilst Black, Behind the Filter and Fully Blown.

Throughout Sarah's career she's also had a variety of roles in the BBC’s comedy team as a Development and Digital Content Editor, before moving into Commissioning and prior to that, she spent over a decade working in commissioning teams across Factual and Entertainment at Fox International Channels, Scripps Networks, ITV and Channel 4.

In this fascinating episode, Sarah shares how throughout her career, she has always confidently put herself forward for roles in TV because she knew her worth and valued her own expertise and how working in an all-female team at ITV inspired her, along with some top tips on how best to pitch to comedy commissioners! Sarah’s also a member of the BAFTA TV Committee and acts as the diversity lead for new writer initiatives at UKTV, so grab yourself a notebook and pen, because this one’s a goody!