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Disney has a new streaming boss.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In a shake-up of Disney’s streaming leadership ranks, the company is moving Hulu president Joe Earley into the role of president of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment effective immediately — succeeding Michael Paull, who is leaving Disney after six years. In the new role, Earley will lead Disney Entertainment’s streaming businesses including Disney+ and Hulu, reporting to co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden. A former longtime Fox exec, Earley joined Disney in 2019 as was instrumental in the launch of Disney+. In addition, Earley will continue as the top exec in charge of Hulu until the company identifies a replacement. Disney+ is led by president Alisa Bowen, who was elevated to the post last fall after overseeing global business operations for Disney’s streaming platforms.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor FX chief John Landgraf and ABC programming head Simran Sethi will expand their duties under an executive shuffle at Disney’s TV operations, one of the first big moves under Dana Walden, who was assigned responsibility for the company’s TV networks after Bob Iger returned as Disney’s CEO. Landgraf will take oversight of National Geographic as well as Onyx Collective, the production unit devoted to projects from communities of color and underrepresented groups. Sethi, meanwhile, will oversee programming and development for both ABC and Freeform. She will continue to report to Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group. The moves comes as Tara Duncan, who had been supervising programming for both Onyx Collective and Freeform, will devote her attention solely to Onyx, freeing up the programming duties for Sethi, who had a previous tenure at the cable network.

will continue to oversee networks and ABC Owned Television Stations, and will add research, labor relations and TV business operations to her purview. Disney Television Studios will remain under Eric Schrier, who will expand his responsibilities to include our global original television strategy, working closely with our talented regional leaders.Read Walden’s full memo to staff below: Dear Colleagues, Since the announcement of Disney Entertainment, I’ve spent time thinking about how to organize my team in a way that will enable me to focus on my newly expanded role, in partnership with Alan.

Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden is among the business executives named to the President’s Export Council, which advises Joe Biden on international trade.

Dana Walden is setting out her stall and it includes more responsibilities for John Landgraf and Simran Sethi.

The Walt Disney Company announced details Thursday of its strategic restructuring, which will, according to an official release, “refocus the organization on creativity, empower creative leaders and ensure they are accountable for all aspects of their businesses globally, and put the company’s streaming business on a path to sustained growth and profitability.” This offers some clarification and insight into the expanded roles of top executives Alan Bergman, Dana Walden and Jimmy Pitaro, first announced during the February 2023 earnings call with CEO Bob Iger on Wednesday. Thursday’s announcement states that, effective immediately, the company will be organized into (and around) three business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products (aka DPEP, which was created by Iger in 2018).

Disney Entertainment, the new division run by Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, will oversee the company’s main streaming services including Disney+ as details of the company strategic restructuring emerge.

Disney is moving back closer to how things used to be run on the content side with the creation of a new Disney Entertainment unit that will encompass TV and film.

Dana Walden, chairman, Disney General Entertainment Content, has restructured another area of the division she took over last summer, bringing back together publicity and communications years after they had been split. She laid out the changes in the company memo, which you can read at the bottom of the story.

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Television has extended its overall deal with Liz Heldens, co-developer and executive producer of the studio’s new crime drama Will Trent, starring Ramon Rodriguez, which premiers on ABC tonight. Under the new pact, Heldens will create, develop, write and produce new series for all platforms.

Kareem Daniel is exiting Disney as head of its Media and Entertainment Distribution division, one day after the ouster of CEO Bob Chapek.

Ryan Murphy has another anthology after Netflix ordered two additional installments of his Monster franchise following the success of Dahmer.

Sydnee Rimes has been promoted to senior vice president of series at ABC Signature.

Jenna Riley has been promoted to senior vice president of drama development at 20th Television.

K.J. Yossman Hargobind Tahilramani, the alleged “Hollywood Con Queen,” has spoken publicly for the first time after taking the stand in court on the first day of his extradition trial. The U.S. government has formally requested the self-described food blogger be extradited from the U.K. to face eight charges in California, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Tahilramani is accused of being the “mastermind” behind a $1 million scam targeting film industry professionals, in which he is alleged to have posed as dozens of mostly female Hollywood executives and their assistants in a bid to lure victims out to Jakarta in Indonesia with the promise of work. Among those he is accused of impersonating are producer Gigi Pritzker, Disney exec Dana Walden and Annapurna Pictures founder Megan Ellison (pictured above, left to right).

Craig Erwich, who oversees ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals for Disney, is one of three TV executives receiving expanded leadership roles at Disney General Entertainment. The changes include the promotions of Erwich to president, ABC Entertainment, Hulu & Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals; Shannon Ryan to president, Marketing, Disney General Entertainment; and Eric Schrier to the role of president, Disney Television Studios & Business Operations, Disney General Entertainment. All three will report to chairman of Disney General Entertainment Dana Walden.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter FX Entertainment president Eric Schrier has been promoted to the newly created role of president of Disney Television Studios and Business Operations for Disney General Entertainment. With the promotion, it was also announced that Bryan Noon would be exiting his role as president of entertainment for Walt Disney Television, but will stay onboard through a transition period. Noon came over to Disney from Netflix in November 2021. Schrier’s promotion was one of three announced by Dana Walden, the chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content. It was also announced that Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment and Hulu, has added Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals to his purview. In addition, Shannon Ryan has been named president of marketing for Disney General Entertainment. All three will report to Walden.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich and president of content marketing for Hulu and Disney General Entertainment Shannon Ryan have both been promoted to expanded roles. Erwich has been upped to president of ABC Entertainment, Hulu & Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals. With this new title, Erwich will continue to oversee ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, while adding unscripted and alternative entertainment to his purview, as well as Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals. Erwich, who has overseen the Hulu Originals brand since 2014, is expected to “help bolster DBT’s content strategy for fueling Disney+ with broad, family-appealing original programming.”

The relationship between Dana Walden and John Landgraf has long been subject of corporate intrigue. The superstar TV executives had run on parallel tracks at Fox and continued to do so after they both made the transition to Disney following the 2019 acquisition until this past June. The shocking dismissal of Peter Rice, which was followed by Walden’s elevation to his post as Chairman of Disney General Entertainment, changed the dynamic between the two veteran executives, with one of them (Landgraf) reporting to the other (Walden) for the first time since Landgraf joined FX in 2004.

Sofia Behzadi Stephanie Levinson has been promoted to executive vice president of casting for Disney’s 20th Television.Levinson joined the studio fresh out of college in 2006.“Stephanie is extremely talented with impeccable taste, strategic thinking and creative insight in the ever evolving world of casting,” said Sharon Klein, executive vice president of casting for Walt Disney Television, to whom Levinson will report. “Her relationships in both the acting and agent communities are unrivaled, and she is beloved by our showrunners and executives who rely on her enormously, as do I.

Hitting the dance floor — on a different platform. Season 31 of Dancing With the Stars will premiere in fall 2022 on Disney+ after more than a decade on ABC.

Clayton Davis Anya Taylor-Joy, Billie Eilish, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Disney exec Dana Walden are among the 397 artists and executives invited to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. If all of this year’s invitees accept membership, it will bring the total number of Academy members to 10,665, with 9,665 eligible to vote for the 95th Oscars set to take place on March 12, 2023.The 2022 class is 44% women, 37% belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50% are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that it is inviting 397 artists and executives to join the Oscar organizer’s membership ranks. The prospective 2022 class includes 71 Oscar nominees and 15 winners, with 44% of the invitees women, and 37% of the group belongs to underrepresented communities.

In her first public comments since she was elevated to Chairman of Disney General Entertainment, Dana Walden sent a memo to staff Monday morning. In it, she expressed her “immense appreciation to Bob Chapek for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime,” noting that “is enormously proud of what we do.” She also praised Peter Rice, “a gifted executive,” for his mentorship and friendship and highlighted the achievements of each division in the content group’s portfolio.

William Earl Dana Walden, newly promoted to Disney’s top TV post, addressed the shocking management shakeup that saw her elevation and the ouster of her longtime boss, Peter Rice.Walden sent a note to Disney General Entertainment staffers detailing the vast unit’s many recent success stories across ABC, FX, Hulu, Freeform, National Geographic and the production units that Walden now oversees. She noted the surprising transition that was unveiled June 9.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeWarren Littlefield is looking to make more Must-See TV with Disney’s 20th Television and ABC Signature. The network president-turned-producer, whose prolific output in recent years has included “Fargo,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Dopesick,” has sealed a multi-year overall deal with 20th and ABC Signature that will keep him exclusive with those studios through 2026.Littlefield was most recently in a joint deal with 20th Television and Fox 21.

In 2004, Disney’s cable networks executive Anne Sweeney was named co-chair, Disney Media Networks, and president, Disney/ABC Television Group. The promotion, announced by then-Disney CEO Bob Iger, to whom Sweeney reported, set off a decade-long reign of Sweeney as one of the most powerful women in entertainment, with a vast TV portfolio encompassing a broadcast network and cable networks, Disney’s TV studio and news.

Selome Hailu After being ousted from his post as Disney’s head of TV content, Peter Rice sent a final memo to staffers.The news came Thursday morning as a shock to the industry, including many at Disney. Rice is being replaced by his top lieutenant, Dana Walden.View the memo in full below.Hi everyone:I am incredibly sad that this will be the last “weekend read” that I will be sending you.

Peter Rice was known for turning down opportunities to take a public victory lap.The soft-spoken British executive, who was ousted on Wednesday from the top TV job at Disney, has a reputation for quietly cultivating relationships with producers and directors such as Baz Luhrmann and Danny Boyle. In the 2000s, he leveraged those ties to boost the performance of Fox Searchlight Pictures with hits such as “Moulin Rouge!” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” More often than not, Rice let the directors, producers and actors take the bows.That low-maintenance demeanor would serve Rice well in Murdoch’s empire as he became close to the family and rose in 2009 to oversee all of Fox’s entertainment networks.