Universal Cable Productions Enters Overall Deal with Charlie Ebersol

UNIVERSAL CITY: Universal Cable Productions (UCP) has struck up an overall deal with reality TV producer Charlie Ebersol of The Company.

The partnership marks the first overall deal The Company has made in scripted television, bolstering its efforts to expand into the scripted world. As part of the deal, Ebersol will develop and produce scripted programming with UCP for NBCUniversal’s portfolio of networks as well as for external and digital networks. Ebersol’s previous credits include creating and serving as an executive producer on CNBC’s The Profit, the award-winning documentary NFL Characters Unite on USA Network, and executive producing TNT’s The Great Escape.

Dawn Olmstead, the executive VP of development at UCP, said: “Charlie Ebersol amazes me. He has his hand in all areas of pop culture in very relevant ways. He's a big thinker with big ideas who looks at our business from a unique perspective. Meetings with Charlie run the gamut from sports to politics and he is incredibly versed in both. Plus, no one can pull off a three-piece suit with argyle socks and sneakers like Charlie can.”

“Universal Cable Productions has produced some of our favorite shows of all time from Psych to Suits to Royal Pains, but what meant the most to us was that they are the kind of partners who match our enthusiasm for creative freedom and strong, side-by-side collaboration,” said Ebersol, the founder and CEO of The Company. “As The Company has expanded into feature film and scripted television, we’ve placed a premium on partners who instinctively seek to do big things while always producing content that creates joy, happiness and change. UCP exemplifies that.”