Variety Print Plus Subscriber
Variety Print Plus Subscriber
Variety Print Plus Subscriber
Variety Print Plus Subscriber
Variety Print Plus Subscriber

By Michael Schneider
Variety Editor at Large
It’s high noon for Bryan Noon at Walt Disney Television, where he has been named president of entertainment, filling the position left vacant when Craig Hunegs departed the company in May. Noon previously served as vice president of original series at Netflix, until departing a year ago as part of an organizational shuffle.
In his new role, Noon will report to Walt Disney Television chairman of entertainment Dana Walden, who made the announcement on Wednesday. Noon will take over all of the duties most recently held by Hunegs, overseeing the production and business affairs teams for Hulu Originals, Onyx Collective, ABC Entertainment and Freeform, as well as production companies ABC Signature and 20th Television. He also oversee all aspects of 20th Animation, Walt Disney Television Unscripted and Alternative, Disney Television Studios Creative Talent Development & Inclusion, 20th Digital Studios, and Creative Acquisitions.

This reps a return to the Mouse House for Noon, who spent nine years at ABC Studios as head of finance and later as VP of business affairs. He moved to Netflix in 2012, just as the streamer was getting into production in a big way. He oversaw its internal studio build-out and the formation of its production and post-production teams. While there, his team also sealed major production deals with talent including Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy — who coincidentally were formerly at ABC Studios and 20th TV, respectively.
“Since leaving ABC Studios, now known as ABC Signature, Bryan played a meaningful role in building the original content strategy for a world-class streaming platform that transformed our industry,” Walden said in a statement. “His wealth of experience, combined with the overwhelming respect he has earned from his colleagues and partners, made him an undeniable choice for this position.” In a memo to staffers, she added: “Bryan’s an esteemed executive who is highly regarded by so many partners and colleagues across our industry and his skill sets are extremely complementary to those of our content leaders.”
Noon will oversee a centralized business affairs and production organization with teams embedded in each creative unit. That includes working with Karey Burke (president, 20th Television), Jonnie Davis (president, ABC Signature), Tara Duncan (president, Freeform and Onyx Collective) and Craig Erwich (president, Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment).
In overseeing Walt Disney Television’s unscripted and animation slates, Noon’s direct reports include
Rob Mills (exec VP, unscripted and alternative entertainment, Walt Disney Television), Marci Proietto (exec VP, 20th Animation), David Worthen (exec VP, 20th Digital Studios), Tim McNeal (senior VP, creative talent development & inclusion), and Elizabeth Newman (VP, creative acquisitions).
Also reporting to Noon, with dotted line reporting into the creative unit leaders, are business affairs executives Kerry Kennedy (exec VP, business affairs, ABC Entertainment and Walt Disney Television Unscripted), Josh Sussman (exec VP, business affairs & operations, ABC Signature), Carlos Williams (exec VP, business affairs & operations, 20th Television, Freeform and Onyx Collective), Brittany Hveem (senior VP, business affairs, Hulu Originals) and Brad McBride (VP, business affairs, 20th Animation). Also with similar reports to Noon and dotted lines to the creative heads: Production executives Nissa Diederich (exec VP, production, 20th Television), Carol Turner (exec VP, production, ABC Signature), Jayne Bieber (senior VP, production management & operations, Freeform), Mark Levenstein (VP, production, Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment) and Dominick Nuzzi (VP, production and administration, ABC Daytime).

“I’m thrilled to be returning to the most famous storytelling company in the world at a time of incredible expansion in its volume of production,” Noon said. “The talented creative teams under Dana develop and curate iconic and distinctive programming across all platforms, and I’m excited to support their creators and continue the company’s storytelling legacy.”
Noon began his career in finance at Warner Bros. Television, Universal Television, InterMedia Films and Artists Television Group. He departed Netflix — which regularly reorganizes its internal divisions — last year after it combined the series business affairs and legal teams, resulting in changes to Noon’s role.
Meanwhile, after two years at the company, Hunegs departed earlier this year, following Disney’s major reorganization that realigned its businesses. Hunegs saw his job redefined, as Disney split off its content creation team from its distribution and commercialization efforts into Disney General Entertainment Content and Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, respectively.
Here is Walden’s memo to staff:
Dear Colleagues and Creative Partners,
I am very happy to share with you that after almost a year of looking to fill the President of Entertainment role for Walt Disney Television, we have found the exact right executive. On November 22nd, Bryan Noon will join our talented team, and I’m so excited for you all to get to know him. Bryan will be leading an extraordinarily gifted group of executives that I’ve had the good fortune of closely working with since last February. I am enormously grateful for how each and every one of them stepped up to assume a greater level of leadership in our organization.
Bryan’s new position actually represents a homecoming of sorts. Prior to working at Netflix for eight years, Bryan spent nine years at ABC Studios (now known as ABC Signature), where he held roles as head of Finance and Vice President of Business Affairs. He’s very much looking forward to returning to Disney and even still has an old Disney security sticker on his car!
Most recently, Bryan served as Vice President of Original Series at Netflix, where he was one of the driving forces behind the explosive growth at the streaming platform. Throughout his tenure there, he helped to build their high-profile roster of creators and premium original content slate and brings to us a wealth of experience in crafting an original content strategy for a direct-to-consumer platform.
Bryan’s an esteemed executive who is highly regarded by so many partners and colleagues across our industry and his skill sets are extremely complementary to those of our content leaders. I’m confident that together, we will continue to foster a culture of creativity, innovation, collaboration and compassion.
Below you will find the release announcing Bryan’s new role. As we continue to build on the incredible momentum of the past year, the addition of Bryan to our best-in-class DGE leadership team is another reason I feel so incredibly optimistic about our future.
Please join me in welcoming Bryan!
Warmest regards,
Dana
The Business of Entertainment

source