Mackenzie Lush has been promoted to the newly created position of director of creative affairs at Entertainment One Television, based in Toronto.

In this position, Lush will be responsible for helping to bolster eOne’s scripted development slate for primetime. She will handle identifying, evaluating, optioning and developing live-action properties for primetime TV, preparing the concepts for sale to buyers and broadcasters, and managing writers, broadcasters and coproducers through the development process and into production. Prior to her promotion, Lush was manager of creative affairs.

Lush notes that networks – both specialty and conventional – are hungry for riskier dramatic programming with strong storylines and characters, and it’s an area she plans to focus on in her new role.

“Everybody wants to make a splash now coming right out of the gate. So I think the onus is on us to find the most dynamic vehicles for that,” Lush told Playback Daily. “eOne has had so much success with Bitten – strong, female leads in the genre space are very, very appealing.”

Currently, eOne Television Canada has 16 projects in active network development, with 14 other projects in development internally. Given the popularity of one-hour dramas with networks right now, Lush says she hopes the company can emulate the long-running success it has had with Rookie Blue.

“It’s an international story – it doesn’t feel specific to Canada. It travels well south of the border,” Lush said.

While one-hour dramas are generating a lot of attention right now, Lush notes that eOne has put a record number of comedies into development throughout the past year.

“One-hours are much more popular with our broadcasters, but when the right comedy idea comes across your desk you can’t help but jump on it,” Lush said.

Lush started at eOne in 2008 in the filmed entertainment division and has racked up a number of producer credits since then, including associate producer on the CBC MOWs Wishing Well and Servitude, the first feature film that was released through Telefilm’s CFC/Just for Laughs Comedy Lab.

Lush’s appointment follows last week’s news that, on the sales side, Prentiss Fraser, former SVP eOne Television International, is leaving the company to join Fox International in London, U.K. Fraser’s departure is effective Aug. 29.