Both Jennifer O’Connell and Suzanna Makkos are joining the executive ranks at the WarnerMedia streaming service, Variety has learned.
Makkos will serve as executive vice president of original comedy and animation, while O’Connell will be WarnerMedia’s executive vice president of original non-fiction and kids programming. Both will report to Sarah Aubrey, head of original content for WarnerMedia.
In her new role, Makkos will be tasked with developing shows ranging from anthology rom-com series to millennial satire to new takes on legacy animated properties under the vast WarnerMedia umbrella. She joins the streamer from Fox Broadcasting, where she was executive vice president of comedy programming and development. During her time there, she shephered shows like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” ‘Bob’s Burgers,” “New Girl,” “The Last Man on Earth,” and “The Mindy Project.”
O’Connell was most recently head of worldwide alternative programming for Lionsgate. She previously held positions at NBCU, Core Media Group, Shed Media U.S., the Disney Channel and the Family Channel. She will now develop programming such as docuseries to children’s-focused projects that leverage WarnerMedia’s portfolio of brands.
Former NBC boss Bob Greenblatt has been tasked with launching WarnerMedia’s streaming service. In an interview with Variety in March, Greenblatt said there are still many unanswered questions about the service, but it will draw heavily on the shows in the Turner and HBO archives.
“The goal here is to put all of these assets that this company has — from the movie studio to HBO and Turner and the vast library — and build a platform that is robust and a great value to the consumer. There’ s a million questions to answer about where we’re already selling content now, should we continue to do that, how exclusive should we be? There are a million questions that have to be answered. We all need to roll up our sleeves as one company to pull that together.”
(Pictured: Jennifer O’Connell, left; Suzanna Makkos, right)
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