Dawn Parouse Olmstead Takes on Development Role at UPC

UNIVERSAL CITY: Universal Cable Productions (UPC) has tapped Dawn Parouse Olmstead (Prison Break, Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce) to head up the studio's development team.

Olmstead will oversee the development and sale of all scripted series for UCP. Richard Rothstein will head up the studio’s current team, which will service UCP projects on NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment properties as well as the scripted content sold to external entities. Olmstead and Rothstein will report directly to Jeff Wachtel, the president and chief content officer at NBCU Cable Entertainment.

Previously, Olmstead launched Original Television, which produced the dramas Tru Calling and Point Pleasant for FOX as well as the comedy The Help.

Wachtel said, “It’s a real coup for us to land a creative producer at Dawn’s level to spearhead our newly escalating effort to create and own original content. She is one of the smartest and most focused producers I’ve ever met, and she is the perfect person to take our in house scripted studio to the next level.” He added, “With almost a dozen shows in active production, it was time to centralize the management of our existing and upcoming series. It’s a core belief that it’s not enough just to get shows on the air; our job is to get series to the critical mass of creating a long term asset. Richard has been a key member of the team that has created one of the best series-to-success ratios in the business.”