Lionsgate TV signs first-look deal with industry heavyweight Greenblatt

US studio Lionsgate has signed a first-look television deal with Robert Greenblatt, the former chairman of NBC Entertainment and WarnerMedia Entertainment.

Robert Greenblatt

Greenblatt will develop and produce premium television projects for Lionsgate Television through his fledgling production company The Green Room.

Greenblatt has help roles atop two US broadcast networks, NBC and Fox, as well as two premium cable networks, Showtime and HBO, as well as streaming platform HBO Max.

The veteran exec has been responsible for global hits including Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, The X Files, Six Feet Under, Dexter, The Tudors, Weeds and Nurse Jackie, the latter two shows with Lionsgate.

Other titles include Shameless, The Voice, Smash, the Chicago trilogy, The Blacklist, The Good Place, This Is Us, a series of live musicals, Flight Attendant, Hacks and HBO’s upcoming The Gilded Age from Julian Fellowes.

Television and theatre producer Jon Wu has been named producer and head of filmed content at The Green Room and will be joining the company in October.

on Wu

Wu joins The Green Room from Reese Witherspoon’s media company Hello Sunshine, where he was VP of film and television.

During his tenure, he oversaw the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show and the Apple TV+ psychological thriller Surface.

Prior to joining Hello Sunshine, Wu was an executive at 20th Century Fox, where he worked on titles including Bohemian Rhapsody, The Greatest Showman, Deadpool 2 and Murder on The Orient Express.

Greenblatt began his career at Fox Broadcasting, where he rose to become head of primetime programming. He then became an award-winning producer of television and theatre, before moving to Showtime and then NBCUniversal. He was most recently chairman at Warner Media Entertainment, prior to a major executive shake-up.

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said of Greenblatt: “During the more than 30 years I’ve known him, he has been associated with some of the most iconic television shows in history, and his creative talent relationships and instincts for great IP are second to none. He brings to our television business a major studio and world-class platform perspective that will help to continue driving our growth.”