Entertainment chief Hunegs exits Disney

Craig Hunegs has resigned as president of entertainment at Walt Disney Television and will leave the US media giant at the end of this month.

Craig Hunegs

Hunegs’ departure comes six months after a major restructure of Disney’s television production and original content businesses, which included its Touchstone studio merging into 20th Television.

As part of the rejig, Hunegs’ role changed from president of Disney Television to his current position, which involves leading centralised business affairs, production, casting and creative talent development and inclusion teams.

Dana Walden, chairman of entertainment at Walt Disney Television, said in a note to staff that Hunegs’ decision to leave related to the reorganisation. “With the reorganisation at our company, his responsibilities have changed and his new role is no longer the one he joined The Walt Disney Company to pursue,” she said, adding that a successor would be named in the coming months.

Prior to joining Disney in 2019, Hunegs was president of business and strategy at Warner Bros TV Group, where he spent two decades.

Walden said: “We’ve achieved so much over the last two years as we’ve reinvented our segment, pivoting from a traditional media brand to a content-first entertainment company built for the future, and Craig has played a strong leadership role in our growth and evolution.

“He’s a gifted executive who has also done an excellent job of thoughtfully leading our teams during two years of significant change at our company and in our industry, especially in successfully guiding our productions safely through the Covid crisis.”