Latest in Executives

Blink49 Studios is staffing up its unscripted division. The Fifth Season-backed company has hired Below Deck exec producer Nadine Rajabi as EVP, Unscripted. Rajabi, based in LA, will report to Tara Long, who Deadline revealed earlier this year had joined the John Morayniss-run business as…

Warner Bros. Discovery said Kathleen Finch, chairman and CEO of U.S. Networks, will retire at year’s end after 25 years at the company with Channing Dungey, Warner Bros. Television Group Chairman and CEO, tapped as her successor. "There is no one better at developing captivating content, compelling…

EXCLUSIVE: Higher Ground, the production company of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, has appointed Anikah McLaren to serve as Head of Film, Deadline can exclusively reveal. McLaren joins from the recently shuttered Participant, where she spent a little over five years as Executive Vice…

Longtime YouTube and Google executive Adam Smith has been named Chief Product & Technology Officer, Disney Entertainment and ESPN. He takes the senior post after the exit in June of Aaron LaBerge, who is now Chief Technology Officer at PENN Entertainment, Disney’s partner on ESPNBet. The Smith hire…

EXCLUSIVE: Kenya Barris is bolstering his Khalabo Ink Society (black-ish, You People, Girls Trip) executive team, tapping Jeremy Allen as Chief Operating Officer and Cassandra Vargas as Chief Marketing Officer, as the company ramps up its film, television and podcast production. Allen’s elevation to…

Liongate has approved a five-year employment agreement with chief executive Jon Feltheimer running through July 31, 2029. The latest deal, which replaces his latest contract from 2022, includes an annual base salary of $1.5 million and target bonus of $7.5 million starting in fiscal 2025. The maximum…

EXCLUSIVE: The North Road Company President of Television Amy Israel continues to assemble her executive team with the hire of wiip’s Josh Stern as well as a duo who had worked for her at Showtime, Jamie Pross and Madison Heim-Jinivisian. Stern will serve as EVP of Television, Pross as VP of Television…

CBS Sports CEO David Berson said the volatility at parent company Paramount Global, which is laying off 15% of its U.S. workforce and preparing to merge with Skydance Media, isn’t taking his division off its game. “There's no doubt that the media and entertainment world is incredibly complex these…

CBS Sports CEO David Berson rejects the notion that the company’s agreement to produce two Christmas Day NFL games for Netflix is tantamount to aiding the enemy. "When the news first came out,” Berson told reporters Tuesday at an NFL media breakfast, “I actually said, 'Welcome to the…

EXCLUSIVE: UK-based VFX and animation company Jellyfish Pictures has hired industry vets Brodie McNeill and Lara Osland to lead their expansion in Canada.  McNeill joins as Senior VFX Supervisor and will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of creative supervision across Toronto-based projects…

EXCLUSIVE: A+E Networks is undergoing a round of layoffs today that has seen cuts across Lifetime and History’s programming teams. Deadline understands that Amy Savitsky, SVP Unscripted Development and Programming at Lifetime, as well as VPs Kim Chessler and Cat Rodriguez are out as part of the…

EXCLUSIVE: As Jeff Shell prepares to re-enter the C-suite leagues under the proposed Skydance-Paramount merger, we hear there’s a lot of digging to find some dirt on the former NBCUniversal executive to either derail or taint his new job before it starts. Shell exited NBCU as CEO in April 2023 due to…