Loren Mawhinney has joined Barna-Alper Productions as VP, factual entertainment, as the Toronto prodco looks to expand its slate of reality and how-to programming.

Mawhinney fills the void left by Janice Tufford, who quietly departed in January.

The former Global exec ‘has experience from reality-type shows to documentaries to dramas, and understands the broadcaster’s point of view, which is very important to bring to the table in any sort of negotiations we have,’ says BAP chief Laszlo Barna.

During her 20-plus-year tenure at Global, Mawhinney oversaw the production/programming of nonfiction content, including Pop Stars and David Paperny’s doc series Titans, and participated in the commissioning and development of fictional series such as Falcon Beach and BAP’s Blue Murder. Mawhinney was ousted as VP, Canadian production during an executive shakeup at Global in 2004.

The hiring comes amid expansion and a potential move towards broadcasting at the heavyweight prodco. BAP announced a partnership with South African investment firm Blue Ice Group Capital that could see it getting into broadcast and larger-scale distribution and considerably bolstering its content output. Mawhinney says BAP will diversify beyond straight-up doc series such as Turning Points of History and Frontiers of Construction.

‘[BAP] is looking to expand into more ‘constructed reality’ kinds of shows,’ she says. ‘We’re going to be looking at those kinds of opportunities, and, in addition, the smaller how-to/makeover shows are something we would like to explore.’

Mawhinney’s arrival at BAP comes in tandem with CBC’s recent announcement of a new reality TV division. Barna says his company’s first project for CBC in this capacity is ‘imminent, and quite substantial.’

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