Universal Studio Group is going down from four to three divisions as Pearlena Igbokwe, Chairman, Television Studios, NBC Entertainment & Peacock Scripted, is proceeding with the long rumored consolidation of UCP and Universal International Studios.
The combined entity, named Universal Global Television, will be run by Beatrice Springborn who served as President of both UCP and Universal International Studios. She will now be President of UGT alongside UTV President Erin Underhill and Universal Television Alternative Studio President Toby Gorman.
High-profile departures stemming from the studio restructuring include UCP’s EVP Jennifer Gwartz and SVP Marc Velez — both development executives — as well as EVP Casting and Talent Development Steven O’Neill.
Six positions are being eliminated as a result of the UCP-UIS merger. The staff reductions are part of a broader round of layoffs at NBCUniversal‘s TV operations related to realignment in the wake of the January spinoff of the bulk of the company’s cable networks into Versant. Overall, 22 jobs have been impacted across USG (UTV, UCP, UIS and UTAS), NBC and Peacock.
All existing UCP and UIS overall and first-look deals will transition to UGT for a combined talent roster that includes Seth MacFarlane, Patrick Macmanus, Nick Antosca, Rachel Shukert, and Sue Naegle. UGT will now also be parent company of British production companies Carnival Films and Working Title Television, previously divisions of UIS, and will assume UIS’ co-venture position in Heyday Television.
While a broader consolidation of USG’s scripted operations, more specifically Universal Television and UCP, also had been rumored, there are no current plans to go all the way.
The UCP-UIS combo could be the first step, similar to Disney’s move to merge 20th Television and Touchstone Television (fka Fox21) in 2000. It took five more years to get to the final stage in the consolidation process, with ABC Signature folded into 20th TV last year. It was preceded by combining several functions, including casting in 2024.
Casting is one area that is being consolidated across UGT and Universal Television in the current restructuring under Kimberly Hope, EVP and Head of Casting and Talent for UTV, as O’Neill exits.
In programming, Springborn has pulled from both sides of the aisle in assembling her integrated senior executive team.
Kelsey Balance, UIS’ EVP of Global Series, will now serve in the same capacity and lead development for UGT. Working under Balance at the combined entity will be her current lieutenant at UIS, SVP of Global Scripted Series Margaret Schatzel, and Amy Suh, SVP Development for UCP.
Rebecca Franko, EVP and Head of Current Series for UCP, will have the same role across UMG. (UIS did not have a current department, with executives handling both development and current series.)
Similarly, UCP’s EVP Production Mark Binke will oversee production for UGT. (UIS had been using a consultant for the role.)
UIS EVP and former CFO Rob Howard is leading day-to-day operations in the UK, which will remain a main production hub for the combined entity. No changes are planned for the studio’s London outpost, which has been keeping things mean, sources said.
Gwartz is expected to return to her producing roots. She joined UCP as EVP in 2021, reporting to Springborn. Before that, she was EVP, Development at 20th Television. While at UCP, Gwartz has developed Five Star Weekend, Devil in Disguise and Summer Sisters, still in the works, among others. Previously, Gwartz was Head of TV for Lin Pictures and Joel Silver and a drama development executive at ABC Entertainment.
Velez joined UCP in 2022 as SVP and Head of Development, reporting to Gwartz. Before that, he spent almost six years as president of Lee Daniels Entertainment where he developed and executive produced ABC’s The Wonder Years, Fox’s Our Kind of People and BET’s The Ms. Pat Show.
O’Neill has been at UCP since its inception in 2008, managing all aspects of the casting process for the studio’s lineup, including All Her Fault, Cape Fear, Five-Star Weekend, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, Murdaugh: Death in the Family and The ‘Burbs. Previously, O’Neill served as EVP of Casting and Talent Development for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment and SVP of Casting at Universal Television and NBC. His credits include the original Suits, Royal Pains, Mr. Robot, The Office, and ER.
Bringing UCP and UIS together is a natural progression as the delineations between the two units’ lanes have started to blur, with the fluidity between their slates creating some confusion. UCP’s mandate had been producing streaming series planted in the US market that can be distributed internationally while UIS had been tasked with making shows designed for the global market.
However, hit Peacock limited series All Her Fault, set in Chicago and featuring a predominantly American cast except lead Sarah Snook, comes from UIS via its subsidiary Carnival Films. Meanwhile, The Rachel Incident, an Irish story filmed in Ireland by an Irish production company for the British Channel 4, is from UCP. And UCP’s latest series for Apple TV, Cape Fear, has emerged as a strong international performer, drawing bigger numbers overseas.
Now the two slates, which already have a lot of crossover, are being aligned together with an eye toward the global market.
And indicating that this is a merger of equals vs. one entity absorbing the other as was the case with 20th TV and Touchstone TV and then ABC Signature, the combined studio is getting a new name, UGT, instead of keeping the name of one of the merging units. (The new moniker does sound a bit like the title of one of NBC’s biggest reality franchises, AGT. Universal’s Got Talent, anyone?)
In addition to All Her Fault, which logged the most-watched original series launch in Peacock’s history, along with strong debuts in the UK, Canada and Australia, UIS is behind such recent hits as The Day of the Jackal, the biggest new series launch ever on Sky, which is returning for Season 2 on Peacock and Sky, and the Peacock limited series Apples Never Fall.
UCP has Peacock’s latest breakout, The ‘Burbs, which was renewed for a second season after amassing more than 1.7 billion viewing minutes on the platform in its first two months, and the live-action/CGI Ted, whose two seasons combined ranked as the #1 streaming original comedy title in the first week of the S2 release based on minutes viewed.
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