Toronto-based Temple Street Productions has appointed Gerry McKean as VP of factual entertainment, effective immediately.

McKean served most recently as the showrunner of Temple Street’s reality show Recipe to Riches, an original format production which will air on the Food Network Canada and Global Television in the fall.

He will be responsible for spearheading all factual and reality content at Temple Street and will be spending his time both in Toronto and LA. “I hope to take my years of experience in all facets of factual and reality television production to build upon Temple Street’s impressive development and production slate,” he said.

McKean previously served as exec producer of reality shows including TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters and Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares and Nanny 911.

In a statement, Temple Street co-presidents David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg said: “Gerry comes with a wealth of experience and relationships in the television industry. His appointment reinforces our commitment to growing our factual and reality programming in the Canadian, U.S. and international markets.”

Additionally, Tara Woodbury (pictured) has come on board as program director of the City Life Film Project, a Temple Street partnership with The Remix Project and Calum De Hartog. The project provides opportunities to disadvantaged youth to tell their stories and experiment with filmmaking.

Woodbury has spent the last nine years in the industry, from her roles as manager of film programs at the CFC, producer of the Worldwide Short Film Festival’s Industry Forum, and communications officer for WIFT-T.  Additionally, she steps into her new position with volunteer experience with Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and UN Women and worked with the Youth Outreach Program at the National Screen Institute.

With files from realscreen

Clarification: In today’s newsletter, the headline of this story erroneously indicated both hires were at Temple Street. Playback would like to clarify that Gerry McKean is the new VP of factual entertainment at Temple Street, while Tara Woodbury is new program director at The Remix Project.