20th Century Fox Television Adds Producer Jennifer Gwartz to Exec Team

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TV and film development executive and producer Jennifer Gwartz has been named executive VP of comedy and drama at 20th Century Fox Television.

In this role, she will oversee the scripted development of the label’s live-action comedies and dramas, from identifying writers to shepherding ideas from pitch to pilot order. In addition, she will oversee the teams of executives in comedy development and drama development and lead the label’s live-action scripted strategy. Gwartz begins in her new post on Monday, November 4.

Gwartz’s career spans roles as an executive and a producer in both television and film. Most recently, she partnered with Jon Harmon Feldman to form Random Hill Productions in an overall deal at ABC Studios, serving as executive producer on the ABC pilot Triangle, among other projects. She also spent six years as head of television and COO for Warner Bros. TV’s Dan Lin Pictures Television, producing six pilots for cable and broadcast, as well as the series Forever (ABC), Frequency (CW) and Fox’s Lethal Weapon, on which she served as an executive producer for three seasons. She has worked as a drama development executive at ABC Entertainment and Columbia TriStar Television, and served as president of Joel Silver’s television division at Warner Bros., where she developed and executive produced the pilots for Veronica Mars, Prodigy and The Studio.

On the feature side, she served as an executive at Silver Pictures, working on such projects as Demolition Man, Conspiracy Theory and The Hudsucker Proxy. From there she worked at Cary Woods’ Miramax-based production company where she developed Scream, as well as Kids, Copland, Swingers and Beautiful Girls. Additional film credits include Lethal Weapon 4, House on Haunted Hill and The Matrix.

“Jen is a smart thoughtful leader and a champion of ideas and talent, which makes her the perfect person to lead our development,” commented President of Creative Affairs Carolyn Cassidy, to whom Gwartz will report. “I also value her ability to look at the process and possibilities of television from multiple perspectives as a result of her background as a studio executive and hands-on producer. I know she will be an extraordinary asset as we seek to create quality television and bring both new and accomplished voices, properties and ideas to 20th.”

Added Gwartz, “I’ve long admired 20th’s leadership in providing a home to some of the most extraordinary talent in our business. After many years as a producer, I’m honored to join Carolyn and her team and to help continue to make 20th a go-to destination for noisy, exciting and innovative artists and storytellers.”