ABC Australia has hired Melinda Wearne as head of children’s and family, putting her firmly in charge of the country’s most powerful kids content commissioning entity.
A longtime producer, Wearne comes to ABC from Beyond Entertainment, where she oversaw the development of children’s and family content (as well as drama) in her head of scripted role. Wearne produced animated series Motown Magic and Beat Bugs for Netflix and Monster Beach for Cartoon Network. She was also the creator and producer of Chinese-Australian co-pro Hoopla Doopla (for ABC and CCTV).
Melinda Wearne
Wearne starts early next year, and will take over from Mary-Ellen Mullane, who has been working as interim head of children’s and family since 2024.
Wearne is set to lead a team that plays a vital part in investing in kids programming and getting it in front of kids. Like many pubcasters worldwide, ABC Australia is the main financing source for kids content in its country. And this role has become more critical in recent years as it has tried to pick up the slack after the country scrapped its kids content quotas. (Though the potential streamer quotas being considered by the Australian government could possibly ease this burden somewhat.)
Wearne will be part of the pubcaster’s recently established ABC Screen division. Deputy head of screen Alex Baldwin has also been named head of commissioning, overseeing all genres. And he reports to Jennifer Collins, director of ABC Screen.
This announcement comes just in advance of the ABC’s 2026 slate presentation on Thursday. Some of the pubcaster’s latest kids series include August commissions Happy House and Caper Crew, as well fledgling hit Do Not Watch This Show from Lee Bones Productions.
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