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Disney TV Studios rejigs leadership

Disney Television Studios has restructured its senior management, naming a new ABC Studios president and a new head of 20th Century Fox Television, following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets.

Jonnie Davis

Jonnie Davis is to lead ABC Studios as president, with current president Patrick Moran and executive VP Howard Davine stepping down.

Carolyn Cassidy has been promoted to president of creative affairs at 20th Century Fox Television and will lead the studio alongside president of business operations Howard Kurtzman, while Josh Sussman is joining ABC Studios as executive VP of business affairs, reporting to Davis.

Davis joined 20th Century Fox Television in January 2008 as senior VP of comedy development and soon rose to executive VP of comedy. He later held the role of executive VP of comedy and animation development, before being named president of creative affairs.

Shows Davis helped develop include drama series This Is Us and the studio’s comedy hit Modern Family, as well as New Girl, Fresh Off the Boat, Last Man on Earth and Last Man Standing.

Carolyn Cassidy

He also oversaw the studio’s recent expansion into animation development, which includes forthcoming titles Bless the Harts, Duncanville, Solar Opposites and Central Park.

Cassidy most recently served as executive VP of current series for 20th Century Fox Television, a position she assumed in July 2015. In that role, she oversaw a team of executives responsible for managing the studio’s slate of live-action series for platforms such as FBC, ABC, NBC, FX, Hulu, Disney+ and Netflix. She has grown franchise hits such as This Is Us, Empire, 9-1-1 and Modern Family.

Cassidy first joined 20th Century Fox TV in August 2009 as VP of comedy series. She developed New Girl, Fresh Off the Boat and Last Man Standing.

The exec started her career as a current executive at NBC, where she worked on series such as Will & Grace, The Office, Las Vegas and Ed. She also previously served as a comedy development executive at ABC Studios.

Joshua Sussman

The appointments were announced today by Craig Hunegs, president of Disney Television Studios, to whom Davis, Cassidy and Kurtzman will report. Bert Salke continues as president of Fox 21 Television Studios, also reporting to Hunegs.

Disney Television Studios comprises ABC Studios, 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios. The latter two units were added following the Mouse House’s US$71bn acquisition of assets belonging to 21st Century Fox, which it completed earlier this year.

Disney Television Studios currently produces 69 series across 16 broadcast, cable, digital and international platforms. Disney claims its programming now reaches more than a billion people every day across the world.

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