Valerie Bruce

As General Manager, Valerie Bruce spearheads all BBC Studios’ Los Angeles production activities to drive commercial growth. Bruce leads a seasoned team of Los Angeles-based creative producers working at the highest level on developing original programming – including the Emmy® award-winning Life Below Zero and two spin-off series, Port Protection and Life Below Zero: Next Generation, along with the new original series Breaking Bobby Bones on National Geographic.  Under Bruce’s leadership, the growing LA Productions unit produces the Emmy award-winning powerhouse Dancing with the Stars on ABC and Top Gear America on MotorTrend, two global brands she has been instrumental in advancing.

In the scripted arena, Bruce and her producing team have secured a straight-to-series order from Fox for the comedy Call Me Kat, starring Mayim Bialik, an adaptation of the hit BBC series Miranda. Bruce and her team also collaborate with BBC Studios’ in-house production division and independent producers in the UK – including those invested in by BBC Studios – on formats and original development for the U.S. market.

Bruce has a proven track record of success at BBC Studios, where she has held executive leadership roles for nearly a decade. She originally joined as Senior Vice President, Business Affairs, BBC AMERICA in 2011, where she negotiated unscripted and scripted series deals for the channel, including the Emmy award-winning Orphan Black. In 2016, Bruce joined the production team as Senior Vice President, Commercial Director, and was later promoted to Executive Vice President, Commercial Director, responsible for driving all business initiatives for the Los Angeles-based studio. In that role, Bruce led negotiations on first-look deals with Lionsgate and Fandom Fiction. The BBC Studios and Lionsgate co-production partnership, launched in fall 2018, has already resulted in two pilots: This Country for Fox, based on the successful BBC series, and Ghosts for CBS, based on the popular BBC show of the same name (produced by Monumental Television in the UK).  Bruce has actively managed internal and external relations with the studio’s creative talent since she joined the production team in 2016.

Prior to BBC Studios, Bruce held senior executive positions with companies including FilmDistrict, Apparition, IFC, The Sundance Channel, MTV Networks, and Broadway Video.

Bruce graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and earned a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School.