Deadline: ABC Signature Folding Into 20th TV Under Karey Burke; Hulu & ABC Scripted Teams Combining Under Simran Sethi In Major Reorg Resulting In Layoffs

Story from Deadline:

In a consolidation move six years in the making, ABC Signature is no more. The production unit is being shut down, with its operations folded into 20th Television under 20th TV President Karey Burke.

Additionally, the ABC and Hulu Originals scripted drama and comedy teams are being combined under ABC/Freeform EVP Simran Sethi who has been elevated to President, Scripted Programming, Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment.

Leaving their positions as part of the restructuring are Tracy Underwood, who is stepping down as President of ABC Signature and segueing to an overall producing deal with Disney Television Studios, and SVP Erin Wehrenberg, ABC’s Head Of Comedy.

The combining of the studios as well as ABC and Hulu’s scripted teams is impacting about 30 Disney Entertainment Television employees, I hear. The majority of them are on the studio side, split relatively evenly between ABC Signature and 20th TV as a number of ABC Signature staffers are transitioning to the bulked-up 20th TV. That is in the ballpark of the number of people who exited last month as a result of Paramount TV Studios ceasing operations, with its slate taken over by CBS Studios — despite ABC Signature being larger than PTVS, and the Disney consolidation spanning two different areas.

Burke and Sethi will continue to report to Eric Schrier, President of Disney Television Studios & Business Operations, Disney General Entertainment; and Craig Erwich, President of Disney Television Group, respectively, who announced the restructuring in internal memos, calling the layoff decisions “difficult” and “painstaking.” (You can read their notes below) With the dissolution of ABC Signature, Disney TV Studios will now consist of 20th TV and 20th Animation. 6-Jordan Helman, Hulu’s Head of Scripted Content and former Head of Drama, who has played a key role in such top Hulu Originals as The Handmaid’s Tale and Dopesick, is adding broadcast drama to his purview and will serve as EVP, Drama, Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment, reporting to Sethi. ABC’s SVP and head of drama Brianna Bennett will report to Helman. With Hulu’s Head of Comedy post vacant since May when Billy Rosenberg stepped down and Wehrenberg departing today, the combined comedy team will report to Sethi for the time being.

Additionally, ABC Signature’s EVP Business Affairs and Operation Josh Sussman has been promoted to lead the new combined DET business affairs team, continuing to report to Schrier who called him in his note “a thoughtful strategist.” Carlos Williams, EVP, Business Affairs and Operations, 20th Television, Freeform and Onyx Collective, will now report to Sussman.

Underwood and Wehrenberg are believed to be the highest-profile executive departures. Two of Underwood’s direct reports, Danny Feldheim, ABC Signature’s SVP of Comedy Development, and Susan Lewis, SVP of Drama Development, also are leaving.

Speculation about Disney and Fox’s leading TV studios merging started shortly after Disney’s proposed acquisition of Fox assets was announced at the end of 2017. There have been multiple rounds of studio consolidation since the Disney-Fox deal closed in 2019 — ABC Studios and its cable/streaming subsidiary ABC Signature were combined in August 2020, and Touchstone Television (fka Fox21) was folded into 20th TV in December of that year.

As part of various rounds of layoffs over the past two years, 20th TV and ABC Signature consolidated their production and casting operations. In an environment where media companies are scrutinizing every facet of their business for streamlining and cost-savings, the full integration of the two banners in the vein of the CBS Studios absorbing PTVS appeared inevitable. (CBS Corp. previously had merged Paramount Television and the smaller CBS Prods. into what eventually became CBS Studios.)

Unlike CBS Studios and PTVS and NBCUniversal’s Universal Television and UCP which have kept largely distinct profiles, with only one of them supplying broadcast for example, 20th TV and ABC Signature’s focus has been harder to distinguish, with both developing for all platforms, making the existence of both even harder to justify.

As the bigger, more established between the two, 20th TV, one of the key drivers of Disney’s Fox asset acquisition, had the upper hand from the get-go. The studio went through a brief rough patch immediately after joining Disney, not being able to land new series on ABC. But things quickly turned around with Burke at the helm for the past almost four years. 20th TV has delivered a string of successful shows to various platforms, significantly outpacing ABC Signature, including Only Murders in the Building and The Dropout to Hulu, The Old Man to FX/Hulu, Percy Jackson and the Olympians to Disney+, Tracker to CBS, and a couple of current breakouts, Ryan Murphy’s Doctor Odyssey on ABC and Grotesquerie on FX/Hulu as well as Nobody Wants This on Netflix.

Burke’s expanded role comes on her 10-year anniversary at Disney with stints at Freeform and ABC before her move to 20th TV.

In his memo, Schrier noted that Burke “has been a vital and strategic leader across many divisions of the company,” adding, “Over the past three years, she has built upon the studio’s unparalleled success in delivering groundbreaking hits.”

ABC Signature got a shot in the arm post-Fox merger when top 20th TV development executive Jonnie Davis was named President of the label (then ABC Studios) in 2019, bringing with him several high-profile overall deals. That included the pact with Drew Goddard who is behind High Potential, which had a strong launch on ABC and could be ABC Signature’s last hit for the broadcast network, joining such signature series the Disney production unit and its predecessors have delivered for the network over the years, including Home Improvement, My Wife And Kids, Lost, Desperate Housewives, black-ish, and one of the most important series in ABC’s history, Grey’s Anatomy, which just launched its 21st season.

By 2023, Davis had left and, as a possible precursor to the long-awaited studio merger, ABC Signature was without a President for five months until the company’s veteran Underwood was named to the post with her previous role not backfilled.

“Tracy is an exceptional leader whose passion and deep relationships with creative partners has contributed greatly to our organization, and we are excited about continuing our relationship with her as a producer,” Schrier said. “I am confident she will continue to flourish.”

The combining of the ABC and Hulu’s scripted teams also is logical as the lines have been blurring, with linear networks’ role evolving into a first window for content that eventually ends up on streaming. NBCUniversal has had the same scripted programming teams across NBC, the cable networks and Peacock for several years now.

Disney took the first step in December 2020, when Hulu’s Erwich added ABC content to his purview. A few months later, ABC’s non-scripted chief Rob Mills added oversight over non-scripted development and production for Hulu as well as the alternative studio operations.

The process is now completed with the scripted teams’ consolidation creating a single entry point for sellers to ABC and Hulu.

Erwich called it “a one-stop shop for our creative partners.”

“This is designed to maximize one of our distinct advantages, which is the ability to launch content on both linear and streaming,” he added.

This is Sethi’s second promotion in as many years. In 2023, she was named EVP, Programming and Content Strategy, ABC Entertainment and Freeform, adding the cable network she previously had worked at to her purview. During her tenure as head of ABC’s scripted programming team, the network has since introduced hit series such as Abbott Elementary and Will Trent, as well as two recent standouts Doctor Odyssey and High Potential. She has also been a driving force behind ABC’s Second Cycle model of year-round development and Reverse Windowing strategy, which involves taking a show like Hulu’s OMITB and giving it a linear run on ABC to reach a new audience.

In his memo, Erwich called Sethi’s promotion a “recognition of the excellent work Simran has done as the head of the ABC scripted programming team” and thanked Wehrenberg “for her creativity and leadership overseeing ABC comedy development and current over the past few years.”

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