Zena Oliani

Development Executive Producer

 

Zena Oliani joined the True North family as Development Executive at the start of 2025.

 

Prior to True North, Zena held development positions at Purple Productions and Hey Sonny Films where she developed shows across diverse slates covering fact ent, daytime, true crime, children’s and more. Before moving into TV she was Head of Video at a creative agency and Deputy Editor for an international filmmaking magazine, bringing an eclectic background to her development career.

 

What do you do at True North? 

I genuinely think I’ve got the best job in TV. I work in the development team with a bunch of other creative and inspiring professionals and together we come up with ideas for exciting new shows which could be talent-led, ambitious formats or crime access and then endeavour to sell them to commissioners – no two days are the same.

 

What is a show that you’re particularly proud of that you’ve worked on at True North or elsewhere?

Being relatively new to True North a lot of the projects I’m working on here are still top secret so watch this space. Elsewhere I was proud to be part of the team at Purple who brought Doorbell Detectives (BBC 1) to our screens, it really was a labour of love that took about 3 years from ideation to commission.

 

Which show do you wish you’d developed?

An obvious answer would be Traitors (BBC 1) because it’s brilliant and travels to international markets so well. But I was also really impressed by The Jury: Murder Trial (C4); to pull off a big stunty experiment in the legal system must have been a challenge but it was just the real, raw insight into human behaviour which drew me in. And you can’t beat the feeling of a massive twist at the end.

 

Are there any changes you’d like to see in the industry?

I’d like to see development teams get more credit. Anyone who works in this side of the industry knows that it’s rare that an idea can be traced to just one person, but I don’t see what the harm is in crediting the whole team who brought the idea to life. Alas, development is still quite blithely considered a “traditionally uncredited role”.

 

Anything else you would like to tell us about yourself? 

Despite working in the Leeds metropolis, I reside in the beautiful Peak District living out an oftentimes farcical life filled with community carnivals, veg growing competitions, homemade raft races down the river and a village WhatsApp group that Alan Partridge would be well at home in. Naturally, I also edit the thrice-annual village magazine.