NBC’s forthcoming streaming service’s executive leadership team is coming into focus.
Bill McGoldrick has been tapped to head programming for NBCUniversal’s upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming service. McGoldrick will expand his current role as president of scripted content at NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment and president of unscripted content at USA and Syfy to also include the streaming service. Additionally, Alex Sepiol, who has served as exec vp scripted originals at NBCUniversal, will serve as head of drama for the streamer and continue to report to McGoldrick. A head of comedy has not yet been determined after talks with Jamila Hunter broke down.
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Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that McGoldrick has been functioning in his newly expanded role for months, reviewing the scripted development slates for multiple NBCUniversal networks as he reshuffles the slates at Bravo, E! and USA Network. Such moves have included the streamer landing Queer as Folk (from Bravo) and One of Us Is Lying (from E!).
McGoldrick, who was promoted to his previous role in January 2018, formerly reported to cable chief Bonnie Hammer, who moved to gain oversight of NBC’s streaming service earlier this year as part of the company’s executive reorganization. With Hammer’s move, NBC Broadcasting and Sports chairman Mark Lazarus added oversight of the television operation, including cable and news. With that, McGoldrick shifted to reporting to Lazarus.
Sources say Hammer personally recruited McGoldrick to take on additional responsibilities and head programming for the streamer on top of his current duties. With McGoldrick’s expanded role, he will now report to both Hammer and Lazarus.
Within the streamer, McGoldrick will have oversight of all programming, including film and TV. Hunter, the former head of comedy at ABC and who most recently oversaw Kenya Barris’ Netflix banner, was in talks to run comedy and report to McGoldrick before her deal fell apart. Sources say she had been looking for a role that was on equal footing to McGoldrick’s. Instead, she took a short-term gig at CAA-backed Wiip, reporting to her former ABC boss, Paul Lee.
For McGoldrick’s part, he first joined USA Network in 1998 and rose through the ranks before departing in 2005 to run originals at Viacom’s Spike TV. He returned to USA four years later, adding Syfy to his purview shortly afterward as NBCUniversal merged development for its cable brands. McGoldrick helped develop series including USA’s The Sinner, Mr. Robot, Suits, White Collar, Burn Notice, Monk, The 4400; Syfy’s The Expanse, Happy and The Magicians; E!’s The Arrangement; and Bravo’s Imposters, among others.
Sepiol, meanwhile, was hand-picked to be part of McGoldrick’s team in 2016 after the latter added oversight of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment’s scripted operation. He is a veteran exec at USA Network and brought in Burn Notice and Mr. Robot while also developing White Collar and Suits. Sepiol and McGoldrick have worked together for nearly two decades.
NBC’s ad-supported streaming service — whose name has not yet been revealed — will launch in spring 2020 and feature a mix of originals and library content, including The Office. On the scripted side, the streamer has the limited series Angelyne (based on a Hollywood Reporter feature) and the third season of NBC import A.P. Bio, the latter of which was revived after the broadcaster’s cancellation based on the strength of its digital performance. Additional projects are in the works. (Queer as Folk and One Of Us Is Lying remain in development at the streamer.)
