LA-based Essential 11 Television, a joint venture between Toronto-based 11 Television and Australian partner Essential Media & Entertainment, has appointed Michael O’Neill (pictured) in the newly expanded role of VP of unscripted development, effective immediately.

O’Neill, who is currently the head of unscripted development in the Sydney, Australia office, will oversee all non-scripted development for Essential 11 Television in the U.S.  He will report directly to CEO Chris Hilton and Essential 11 chief creative office Kevin Healey.

O’Neill’s appointment follows the recent departure of former VP of development for non-fiction Johnny Healey, who has left the company to pursue other opportunities.

“Mike is an extremely talented creative executive, with a prolific track record of creating compelling content across a range of factual sub-genres,” said Hilton. “We are delighted to have him expand his role to help us continue to ramp up our unscripted development in the U.S. marketplace.”

During his three year tenure in the Sydney office, O’Neill’s development and sales efforts spearheaded a period of growth of the Australian operation, the company said, resulting in it currently having more than 30 hours of high-end factual programming in production.

The prodco is currently working on an eight-hour Australian version of Nutopia’s Story of Us format, entitled Australia: The Story of Us, for Seven Network.

From realscreen