WE TV hires for scripted push

WE TV, the US women’s cablenet owned by AMC Networks, has appointed a new senior VP to lead its drive into scripted programming.

Cheryl Bloch

As the network’s first senior VP of scripted programming, Cheryl Bloch will be responsible for scouting, developing and producing scripted series and collaborating with writers, producers and studios.

She will be based in Santa Monica and report to new WE TV president and general manager Marc Juris, who took over from Kim Martin earlier this month.

Bloch, a producer and former network and studio executive, has recently been a senior consultant to the channel and was instrumental in greenlighting its first scripted series, Richard LaGravenese and Tony Goldwyn’s The Divide, set to premiere in 2014.

She also identified other projects currently in development at WE TV, including: Chris and Paul Weitz’s All American Woman, from Fox Television Studios (FTVS); RJ Cutler’s Dirty, also from FTVS; and Tony Fontana and Barry Levinson’s Unpredictable (fka Headhunters).

Before working with WE TV, Bloch was senior VP at Billy Crystal’s Jennilind Productions. Prior to that, she was the VP of drama development at Fox Broadcasting Company, where she developed 24, Pasadena and Boston Public.

Earlier in her career she worked at Universal Studios and as president of Warner Bros-owned Brand/Falsey Productions, where she won an Emmy and two Golden Globes as supervising producer of Northern Exposure.

In a statement, Juris said Bloch “has been instrumental in leveraging her broad industry relationships and background to build the network’s initial scripted development slate and I am looking forward to working together to deliver unique and compelling scripted shows to WE TV viewers.”

The appointment comes after WE TV looks set for global expansion after parent AMC Networks this week paid US$1bn for Liberty Global’s content arm Chellomedia, which has a footprint in 390 million homes globally.