The 50 Most Powerful TV Producers of 2024

4 weeks ago 10

Ask anybody in television what the marketplace is like right now, and they’re apt to respond with a forced smile resembling that emoji with the toothy grimace. It is rough out there. Post-strike optimism deflated in the grip of Hollywood’s financial squeeze. The path to a series order or a renewal has rarely, if ever, been so difficult.

There are exceptions. From surprise juggernauts like FX’s Emmy record-shattering Shogun and Amazon smash hit Fallout to the utterly unpredictable success of Netflix’s Baby Reindeer or Ryan Murphy’s outrageous run of fall launches, 2024 has also been a good year for the medium. Viewers are even tuning in to broadcast again. (Thanks, Kathy Bates and Joshua Jackson!) So, as Hollywood continues to search for a path forward, who better to ask for advice than those populating THR’s annual survey of the most powerful writer-producers currently working in TV? “What media companies and artists are wrestling with is the shift from an entertainment economy to an attention economy,” offers Fargo’s Noah Hawley. “What’s going to ‘fix’ that crisis is finding a balance between hours made and hours watched. This will work better for CEOs than it will for artists, unfortunately, but once that balance is achieved, the business will stabilize.”

Of course, the trouble with existential crises is that they have no easy remedy. There are, however, steps that many showrunners agree should be taken in the short term. Among them: “Look at the way shows can be amortized over longer seasons,” suggests Elsbeth boss Robert King. “There was some brilliance in the way network TV created audience dedication through developing characters, as opposed to a constant influx of the new.” Almost everyone polled also bemoans the lack of action being taken to bring affordable production back to Los Angeles. “Push harder to create a competitive California tax break,” urges True Detective’s Issa López. “The local industry is dying.”

Well, we’re not dead yet! There’s a case for industry-wide confidence in every one of this year’s 50-ish power players, who talk TV’s future while sounding off on the projects they can’t sell, how they’ll be coping with the anxiety of election night and the current debate over whether comedies need to be … funny.

Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky

Max’s Hacks returned in May from its two-year break like no time had passed. Season three of this trio’s love letter to comedy writing earned as much buzz as before, a speedy renewal and what was arguably the biggest coup of the 2024 Emmys: topping incumbent The Bear for best comedy. Aniello, Downs and Statsky also shared the genre’s writing win, while star Jean Smart used her best actress speech to mock our collective confusion over her platform’s evolving name.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch
Aniello “Maya Rudolph doing Whitney Houston.”
Downs “Kate McKinnon in ‘Close Encounters’ and Kristen Wiig as Dooneese … is that bad?”

Advice for my younger self
Statsky “That is not the production bathroom … That is someone’s private home.”

The greenlight I’m waiting on
All “Mr. Big, a feature we wrote just before Hacks. Call our agents!”

From left: Aniello, Downs and Statsky on location for season three of Hacks. Eddy Chen/MAX
David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo

Joined by Woo, the duo finally delivered a follow-up to Game of Thrones. 3 Body Problem, reportedly Netflix’s most expensive original series to date at $20 million an episode, earned generally positive reviews, a surprise best drama nomination at the Emmys and, per the streamer, an admirable (if not barn-burning) 52 million views. Netflix announced two more seasons to conclude the show, while Benioff and Weiss are also set to produce Death by Lightning, the platform’s upcoming James Garfield assassination drama.

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
Weiss “The White Lotus.”
Benioff “Blue Eye Samurai.”
Woo “Taskmaster.”

Why can’t I stream it?
Weiss “Tumbbad, an Indian horror movie I really want to see.”
Benioff “Revenge of the Nerds.”
Woo “Police Squad.”
Greg Berlanti

After his rousing Emmys Governors Award speech, Berlanti finds himself at a bit of a career crossroads. The Warner Bros.-set power producer has only one created-by credit still on air, and it’s for exiting CW entry Superman and Lois. Increasingly, Berlanti’s attention turns to producing others’ work (see All American, The Girls on the Bus, NBC fall launch Brilliant Minds) and his own feature directing (July’s Fly Me to the Moon).

My writer’s block cure “Wake up super early and just start writing before your internal editor wakes up, too.”
What makes a comedy … a comedy? “[It] must have have jokes or moments that will make you laugh thinking about them after the episode is done. All of the best comedies are remembered as the one where ‘insert something funny happened,’ that folks discuss for awhile after.
Danny Brocklehurst

As the man behind the year’s most streamed series on the most ubiquitous platform, Brocklehurst is beginning to court a lot more attention in Hollywood. The Brit’s track record of Harlan Coben adaptations at Netflix — The Five, Safe, The Stranger, Stay Close — provides a drumbeat of hits, with his latest entry, Fool Me Once, fetching 108 million views to date. He already has Coben’s Run Away and Missing You on deck, in addition to a slew of U.K. writing credits and recent AMC effort Parish.

I’d fix Hollywood by … “Making shows for lower budgets. Excellent drama can be made for less.”

The greenlight I’m waiting on “Dirty, developed for HBO. Everyone tells me it’s a great script, but no one has made it.
Quinta Brunson

Brunson’s Abbott Elementary kicked off its third season with multiplatform ratings highs (6 million viewers in its first three days) and another nine Emmy nominations. In its fourth season, one that we can dream gets atypically crass with its It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia crossover, it remains broadcast’s most celebrated sitcom. Now, its creator-star is looking to leverage her cachet in film. She co-wrote and stars in upcoming Universal Pictures comedy Par for the Course.

On election night, I’ll be … “On my second martini of the day.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous “Agatha All Along.”

Quinta Brunson going over a script with director Randall Einhorn on the set of Abbott Elementary. Disney/Gilles Mingasson
Joanna Calo and Christopher Storer

The reception for season three of The Bear may not have been as feverish as it was for the previous two and, sure, that best comedy loss had to hurt, but these are rich problems. The FX on Hulu comedy from creator-showrunner Storer and writer-producer Calo is still Hulu’s most popular half-hour and, arguably, the industry’s favorite show as it heads into its fourth and potentially final season. The most nominated comedy in Emmy history, it took nine wins this year. Storer has feature The Lincoln Highway on deck, and Calo spent her recent break doing rewrites for Marvel’s high-stakes Thunderbolts.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch
Calo “Dr. Steven Poop. ‘Go ahead, laugh at his last name, but this is the man that might very well save your son’s life.'”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
Calo “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City girls’ trip to Milwaukee. I wish I could get beers with Heather.”
Ryan Condal

Though he occasionally gets snark from fans and even fellow creator George R.R. Martin — why don’t you focus on finishing the damn books, George? — Condal’s accomplishments since taking the reins of the Game of Thrones franchise are hard to critique. House of the Dragon’s second season averaged north of 25 million viewers across HBO and Max, all as its creator now splits time between executing season three in the four-season plan and producing sister spinoff The Hedge Knight.

My writer’s block cure “2,500 crew members staring at me.”
Advice for my younger self “Don’t take it so seriously. It’ll be fine. Have more fun. Enjoy the little victories. Travel. Write more specs.”
Mickey Down and Konrad Kay

The Succession-sized hole in our hearts will never be filled, but a growing number of critics credit Industry as the best balm for that collective loss. Down and Kay, relative unknowns before delivering HBO their darkly comic investment-banking drama, have served up three consecutive seasons of audience gains — a move that just earned them a three-year overall deal at the prestige platform and an order for season four.

Last thing I watched that made me jealous
Down “Challengers.”

Advice for my younger self
Kay “The peak is an illusion. Being in the middle of the thing is the peak.”

I’d fix Hollywood by …
Down “Commissioning original ideas and letting series run longer than one season”

John Nacion/Variety/Getty Images
Michele Fazekas and Eric Kripke

The Boys has made Kripke Amazon’s (groan!) golden boy with its fourth season being watched by 55 million people (per Prime Video) in its early summer berth. With a fifth and final season on deck, he’s plotting a longer future with spinoff Gen V (showrun by veteran writer Fazekas) and another entry on the way in prequel Vought Rising. For the highly exportable franchise, Amazon estimates 60 percent of its audience comes from outside the U.S.

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
Fazekas “The Bear episode ‘Forks.’ Hit me in a way that was unexpected. And Olivia Colman should be in all the things.”
Kripke “Fallout.”
Why can’t I stream it?
Fazekas “Recently learned Silkwood isn’t streaming anywhere. You can’t even rent or buy it digitally. Will someone fix this, please?” (Hulu recently answered Michele’s plea.)

My writer’s block cure
Kripke  “I’m paraphrasing someone else, but it’s not actually a block. It’s an empty gas tank. Go fill it with things that inspire you.”
Julian Fellowes

At 75, the Oscar-winning screenwriter (Gosford Park) has arguably entered the most prolific phase of his career. In addition to producing an unexpected new season of Belgravia and wrapping production on the third Downton Abbey film (that’s still TV-ish, right?), he penned all eight episodes of ascendant Max drama The Gilded Age in its second season. Max then fast-tracked a third season of the best drama Emmy nominee, filming it over the summer for a 2025 release.

The last thing I watched that made me jealous “The Fall, starring GIllian Anderson and Jamie Dornan, stayed with me for ages. I tuned in more or less by accident. And while I was a fan of Ms. Anderson, I only knew that Dornan had been in Fifty Shades of Grey, which wasn’t really my thing, but by heaven he has made an impression now! I thought it was brilliantly written, directed and acted. I wish it were mine.”

The greenlight I’m waiting on “I wrote a script about Lord Nelson that I liked very much — I still like it — but although it came close a few times, it never got made.”
Dan Fogelman and John Hoffman

Only Murders in the Building has become both a hit and a calling card for Hulu. Hoffman showruns the soon-to-be five-season comedy that seems to lure A-lister after A-lister (Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd and now Melissa McCarthy). Fogelman produces the 49-time Emmy-nominated series, while putting the finishing touches on Secret Service drama Paradise with his This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown and getting on the field for an NFL drama at Hulu.

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
Fogelman “I absolutely flipped for The Wild Robot. I took my young son and it was the first movie that ever truly emotionally affected him. It’s the best animated film — or film in general, honestly — that I’ve seen in a while.”

On election night, I’ll be …
Hoffman “Feeling secure in the knowledge that things are never as dire as they seem, while relaxing contentedly in my bunker in New Zealand.”
Richard Gadd

Reminiscent of fellow Brit wunderkind Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s epic 2019 run for Fleabag, Gadd’s surprise hit Baby Reindeer (87.6 million views, per Netflix) earned him Emmys for acting, writing and best miniseries. Even that $170 million lawsuit over accusations of defamation for a thinly veiled character couldn’t stop Netflix from snapping up the “It” auteur for an overall deal — a megadeal that followed HBO snatching U.S. rights to Gadd’s BBC drama Lions. (This guy’s really got a thing for animals.)

The last conversation with an exec that made me nervous “ ‘The algorithm says …’ ”

My all-time favorite SNL sketch “Are you still allowed to say ‘Dick In A Box?’ Otherwise ‘Cowbell.’ Always ‘Cowbell.'”

Richard Gadd accepting one of his three 2024 Emmy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Scott Gimple and David Zabel

Under the leadership of Gimple, the Walking Dead franchise continues to lend some relevance to AMC — which now licenses past and current entries to Netflix after airing them on cable and its own streamer. In the past year, the Zabel-led spinoff Daryl Dixon wooed critical favor back to the 15-year-old zombie IP while limited offering The Ones Who Live bowed in April as the network’s most watched premiere in over six years.

Advice for my younger self
Gimple “Pursue balance and take more pictures on set during season two and onward of The Walking Dead.”

On election night, I’ll be …
Zabel “Drinking sangria in a Madrid bar and possibly pretending to be Canadian.”

What makes a comedy … a comedy?
Gimple “Only make you cry three times a season, tops.”
Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane

A campy 2005 action comedy being reimagined as a prestige meditation on modern relationships doesn’t exactly scream “success,” but such is the power of Glover. The multihyphenate co-created a new spin on Mr. & Mrs. Smith with fellow Atlanta scribe Sloane, and it worked out nicely. Their Prime Video drama earned 16 Emmy nominations and a renewal for a second season — with a second set of stars to replace Glover and Maya Erskine. Sloane, who returns as showrunner, has been back in the writers room for months.

The last conversation with an exec that made me nervous
Sloane “ ‘We aren’t looking for anything that breaks the mold. What’s some IP that gets you excited?’”

Advice for my younger self
Sloane “Dr. Pepper chapstick by Lipsmacker will eventually stop being manufactured. I know how much you love that shit, so stock up now while you still can because they go for 50 bucks a pop on eBay… which is wild.”
Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence and Jason Segel

Lawrence is out here selling TV shows like it’s 2018. The ubiquitous producer, Apple TV+’s creator of choice, wrapped Vince Vaughn dramedy Bad Monkey at the streamer just a week before the Oct. 16 return of Shrinking — which he created with star Segel and sophomore cast addition Goldstein and has already earned a third-season pickup. (Speaking of Goldstein, rumblings of Ted Lasso season four continue now that the writer-actor’s option has been picked up.) But Lawrence isn’t only in business with Apple. The Warner Bros. Discovery-based showrunner is also prepping a comedy starring Steve Carell for HBO.

The greenlight I’m waiting on
Goldstein “I want to make an old-school Muppets movie, but still trying to crack it.”
Segel “SpaceGhost. The script is written. Ready when you are.”

My writer’s block cure
Goldstein “Free writing six pages. No stopping, just keep writing all nonsense. Don’t take a breath. Don’t stop moving the pen until you’ve written six pages. Read it back. There will be an idea that was hiding in your subconscious worth listening to.”
Segel  “Moving out of Los Angeles and removing strategy from the equation.”

Jessica Williams, Harrison Ford and Jason Segel at the October premiere of Shrinking season two. Emma McIntyre/WireImage
Noah Hawley

After a fruitful return to Fargo (15 Emmy nominations and a surprise win for supporting player Lamorne Morris), Hawley made a hard geographical pivot and headed to Bangkok. That’s where he completed filming his long, long gestating serialized take on the Alien franchise in July. Aliens: Earth will debut on FX on Hulu in 2025.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch “Eddy Murphy ‘Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood.'”

The last conversation with an exec that made me nervous “It was about completion rates. Viewers are losing interest in stories earlier and earlier. They seem increasingly resistant to building habits around watching shows, with fewer and fewer shows connecting on a long-term level. This means that networks and streamers have to wait until a month or two after the finale to judge if the number of viewers of the last episode justify picking up a second season.”
Soo Hugh

Apple TV+ adaptation of Pachinko when it premiered back in 2022, but its fortunes may change after an auspicious sophomore run. Her sprawling generational drama boasts a rare 100 percent fresh rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

My writer’s block cure “Watching ridiculous videos of Asian moms giving their babies face massages.”

Why can’t I stream it? “North and South, the miniseries. Where is it?”

The last conversation with an exec that made me nervous “Too many to count. Everyone’s on edge these days.”
Dallas Jenkins

The writer-director has redefined success in the struggling TV economy with a unique distribution model that funnels The Chosen to movie theaters before it is reborn on a dedicated app, Prime Video, Peacock and, eventually, The CW. The strategy has helped the serialized retelling of the Jesus story reach an estimated 200 million viewers across the globe, over 5,000 of them recently gathering at the second annual ChosenCon, affording Jenkins the chance to build his own 80,000-square-foot studio facility in Texas for his series’ planned seven seasons.
The last thing I watched that made me jealous “Succession made me realize I’ve got a long ways to go.”

I’d fix Hollywood by … “Reducing quantity. I know that’s a cliché, but it’s working for some folks.”

Why can’t I stream it?
“A Few Good Men”
David E. Kelley

The long-reigning king of the legal drama dropped summer’s water-cooler success story with his Apple TV+ adaptation of Presumed Innocent. The limited series was deemed so strong for the streamer that it’ll live on in a second season, presumably as an anthology. 2024 also brought miniseries A Man in Full and a third season of The Lincoln Lawyer, both at Netflix. Next up, at long last, he’s going to collaborate with wife Michelle Pfeiffer on an adaptation of Margo’s Got Money Troubles.

The last thing I saw that made me jealous “Anything written by Dennis Lehane.”
My writer’s block cure “Fishing.”
Michelle King and Robert King

Paramount+ canceled supernatural drama Evil … just in time for it to become a massive hit for somebody else. The show proved to be one of the most watched library titles for Netflix earlier this year, boosting the home platform’s final episodes in the process. This irony is not lost on the prolific couple, who hope to resurrect their title down the line. In the meantime, they’ve got a second season of Elsbeth (another Good Wife spinoff) on CBS and Dennis Quaid true-crime drama Happy Face expected for Paramount+ in 2025.

Advice for my younger self
Michelle King “Forget about features, get into TV.”
Robert King “We did an episode of The Good Wife called ‘Bitcoin for Dummies’ when Bitcoin was worth $3. We were considering buying Bitcoins as a gag gift for the cast and crew. And my advice to my younger self would be that Bitcoin is so much cheaper than buying the $35 windbreakers we eventually bought.” (One Bitcoin is currently valued at $67,836.76.)

On election night, I’ll be …
Michelle King “Glued to a screen and vaguely nauseous.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
Robert King “I love the way overlapping dialogue is used in English Teacher. The writing is excellent, and the chances the show takes on subject matter is inspiring.”
Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks

In the annals of the medium, 2024 will probably belong to a certain history-altering trainwreck of a presidential debate. But Shogun probably comes in at a close second. This expensive, FX-produced historical drama, a new take on both the 1975 novel and 1980 miniseries of the same name, saw married duo Kondo and Marks re-center the narrative on its Japanese characters — and break Hulu records in the process. Its premiere drew 9 million viewers to the platform in less than a week and went on to earn a two-season renewal (despite its miniseries billing) and 18 Emmys. That’s more than any series has earned for a single season in the awards show’s history.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch
Marks “Kate McKinnon and J. K. Simmons doing the end of Casablanca still lives-rent free in my head.”
Kondo “If I could come back as anyone other than me, it would be Kristen Wiig.”

My writer’s block cure
Kondo “I head out to a thrift store to do something I can actually do well — buy stuff I don’t need.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
Marks “Community. I watch it yearly, just to stay humble.”

Behind the scenes of Shogun’s lavish set.
Alex Kurtzman

Closing the door on Star Trek: Discovery in May, after five seasons, Kurtzman shifts the focus of his Paramount+ space franchise to new entry Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The series, starring heavy hitters Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti, began production in August and is expected to drop after a third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. But those aren’t all the projects he has with a colon in the title. Star Trek: Section 31, a TV movie starring Michelle Yeoh, arrives at the top of 2025.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch “Sally O’Malley’s Rockette Audition.”
Jenna Lamia

The first time was the charm for the actress and writer, whose foray into showrunning held strong atop Nielsen’s streaming charts for two competitive weeks in September. The Perfect Couple, Lamia’s adaptation of the Elin Hilderbrand novel, boasted a stacked cast (Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning), two months in Netflix’s Top 10 and a very memorable dance number. The one-off did so well that Lamia and Hilderbrand are already discussing other titles to mine from the author’s expansive catalog.

The last thing I watched that made me jealous “Now that I know just how difficult it is to get anything made at all, let alone make something even halfway decent, I am in awe of a show like Presumed Innocent.”

The greenlight I’m waiting on “My romantic comedy about two commitment-phobes who meet on Divorce Court. It’s called I Don’t.”
Lauren LeFranc

Usually, hiding Colin Farrell in a fat suit and facial prosthetics would be grounds for public admonishment. But, so far, it’s working out for LeFranc. The Penguin, her gritty spinoff of Matt Reeves’ 2022 feature The Batman, bowed to Max’s best launch numbers since The Last of Us in 2023 and has since pulled in north of 10 million viewers. It’s been a rare comic book adaptation to please critics, who’ve been keen on Farrell and co-star Cristin Milioti’s performances.

The last thing I watched that made me jealous “Bluey … Never jealous. Just happy it exists.”

Why can’t I stream it? “Cocoon. Jessica Tandy forever.”
Issa López

Where her predecessor failed to recapture the zeitgeist of the anthology’s first go, López succeeded with True Detective: Night Country. The HBO series’ fourth cycle, its first from the Mexican filmmaker, put Jodie Foster on TV and drew more than 13 million viewers to each of its six episodes. The network quickly locked in López for an overall deal and ordered a new concept from her for the franchise — something she teased during her victory lap for the series’ 19 Emmy nominations.

I’d fix Hollywood by … “Pushing harder to create a competitive California tax break. The local industry is dying.”

What makes a comedy … a comedy? “Combining acute moral pain with, if not laugh out loud moments, at least that amused snort we all crave so much.”

Issa Lopez with Jodie Foster, who won an Emmy for True Detective: Night Country Courtesy of HBO
Chuck Lorre

The sitcom impresario said farewell to two long-running successes in 2024, airing the final seasons of both Young Sheldon and Bob Hearts Abishola. But he’s never without a few promising projects on the bench: Young Sheldon spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage hit CBS in October and a vehicle for stand-up Leanne Morgan scored a straight-to-series order with 16 episodes at Netflix. His Sebastian Maniscalco comedy Bookie returns for a second season in December on Max — where he’s also working on another Big Bang Theory spinoff.

Advice for my younger self “Calm the fuck down.”
My writer’s block cure “Sitting quietly and suffering.”
Seth MacFarlane

His animated series may cover the bills — and could likely do the same for most small nations — but the Family Guy creator is also a dependable draw when he dips into live action. Ted, MacFarlane’s TV spinoff of his $760 million feature franchise about a man and his crude teddy bear, ranks as the most watched Peacock original to date. It also spent the first two months of 2024 as the most streamed comedy on the Nielsen charts, prompting a rather expected renewal.

The last conversation with an exec that made me nervous “When they told me they could no longer provide water during meetings.”
The last thing I watched that made me jealous “The Menendez Brothers show on Netflix. I can’t even find one sweater I like, and those guys had so many.”

My writer’s block cure “Turn on CBS to show myself it doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done.”
Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne

It’s hard to determine if The Rings of Power is a value add for Amazon. Two seasons in, the price tag (The Lord of the Rings rights included) is approaching $1 billion. But McKay and Payne keep executing their wildly difficult directive: making a lavish, faithful adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books — and keeping most nerds from imploding with rage. Reach is equally vague with this streamer, though Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke recently hyped 55 million viewers for season two and expectations of eventually finding 150 million. A season-three renewal is not yet official, but all signs point to more Middle-earth for the everything store.
My all-time favorite SNL sketch
Payne “The ‘Lexon Paradox’ car commercial. It’s about a car designed by multiple groups of engineers, some of which design it to be the best car ever; some, the worst. Still hilarious, 30 years later.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
McKay “Shogun. An instant classic, made with impeccable formal rigor and packed with great performances.”

The greenlight I’m waiting on
Payne “A Star Trek movie, despite having written several!”
McKay “Goliath, an epic action reimagining of the David & Goliath story that was the first original screenplay we ever had optioned. Man-eating lions, a ten-foot-tall assassin and the Ark of the covenant are involved. Call us!
Ryan Murphy

For anyone who’s been in a media blackout since August, mazel tov! And allow us to recap Murphy’s frenetic fall: Over 10 days in September, he launched four new series — Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, FX on Hulu’s Grotesquerie and American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, and Doctor Odyssey on ABC — each deemed a ratings triumph on its respective platform and one of them potentially inspiring the L.A. District Attorney’s office to reopen a 35-year-old murder case. Murphy also released new seasons of 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star, and a new string of American Horror Stories TV movies after a year that saw a Feud revival score 10 Emmy nominations. Ample spinoffs and anthology entries are on deck, on top of a new legal drama fronted by Kim Kardashian (All’s Fair), all of it more than justifying Disney bringing the power producer back into the fold after his lucrative fling with Netflix.
Eric Newman

Many have tried and failed where Newman has succeeded. Yes, the writer-producer is bringing Robert De Niro to TV. Bobby’s first series, conspiracy thriller Zero Day, hits Netflix in early 2025. That’s just the latest for Newman at the streamer, where he recently dropped Sofía Vergara miniseries Griselda and will soon release Taylor Kitsch reunion American Primeval.

Advice for my younger self “Focus less on what you want to be and more on what you want to do.”

Why can’t I stream it? “To Live and Die in L.A.“
Jonathan Nolan, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner

This trio — showrunners and creators Robertson-Dworet and Wagner, alongside director and EP Nolan — delivered Amazon its biggest launch to date with Fallout. The video game adaptation accumulated 2.9 billion minutes watched over its first week, per Nielsen, blowing all previous originals out of the water. The streamer cites a total 100 million viewers since, reason enough for the speedy renewal before you consider its 16 Emmy nominations. My writer’s block cure Nolan “2mg Nicorette mini lozenge.”

My writer’s block cure
Nolan “2mg Nicorette mini lozenge.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
Robertson-Dworet “The Sesame Street: Elmo Plays With Bubbles! compilation on YouTube. This is also the only thing my toddler has allowed me to watch for the last month.”

The last conversation with an exec that made me nervous
Wagner “A CBC executive told me not to make fun of the sport of curling. [The show] was a sitcom about curling. I moved to L.A. three weeks later.”

Jonathan Nolan and Ella Purnell on the ‘Fallout’ set. JoJo Whilden/Prime Video
Shaye Ogbonna

The first-time showrunner scored with Peacock miniseries Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist — managing a definitely not intimidating cast that included Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle and motherfucking Samuel L. Jackson. It opened atop the streamer’s originals chart in September, garnering early awards buzz. Ogbonna’s hot fall also included penning an episode of The Penguin.

My writer’s block cure “Take a shower. Learned that from Aaron Sorkin. Not directly. I don’t know him like that. Or at all. I read it in a magazine. That shit works.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous
“South Side on Max. That show is poetry.”
Nkechi Okoro Carroll

Though its spinoff came to an end in July, the Carroll-produced All American will return in 2025 as the lone original drama on The CW — a confusing channel now otherwise populated by Canadian imports and Saudi-backed golf tournaments. Her primary focus, Found, recently launched its second season on NBC.

The last thing I watched that made me jealous “Nobody Wants This.”

Why can’t I stream it? “Kane & Abel TV Mini Series from 1985”

Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Tyler Perry

Things may be perennially confusing over at Paramount, but there are still a few creatives left who probably aren’t sweating. One of them is the wildly prolific Perry. He signed a new deal with BET Media Group in April, one that brought renewals for eight series, including flagships Sistas and The Oval, and an order for crime drama Route 187. After years of writing and directing everything with his name on it, Perry has finally loosed his grip a little, bringing in new collaborators on a few titles to help him funnel hundreds of hours of original content from his Georgia studio to BET and BET+ annually.
Joe Port and Joe Wiseman

Now in its fourth season, Ghosts ranks as the most watched and highest-rated broadcast comedy. It’s also given CBS an anchor for its sitcom block in the wake of Young Sheldon’s departure (RIP). Awards attention may evade the critical darling — but when you’re inspiring 7 million Americans to fire up a cable box on any given Thursday night and watch a show as it airs (with commercials!), you can’t ask for much more.

I’d fix Hollywood by …
Wiseman “Going back to an ad-based revenue model. Hey, it worked for 100 years!”

The greenlight I’m waiting on
Port “Our O.J. comedy we wrote on spec just for fun, years ago. It’s basically season two of The People v. O. J. Simpson, but it’s very much a sitcom in tone.”
Why can’t I stream it?
Wiseman “Newhart It’s a show we talk about glowingly in the Ghosts writers room.”
Matthew Read and Guy Ritchie

Ritchie might want to think about doing more TV. The filmmaker’s serialized extension of his The Gentlemen franchise, a collaboration with Read, hit big on Netflix with half a billion hours streamed in the first two quarters and an Emmy nomination for Ritchie’s direction. The streamer ordered a second round of the Theo James comedy, one Read will continue to run on top of producing A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and forthcoming miniseries The Leopard (both also at Netflix).

Advice for my younger self
Read “You will never play for Arsenal.”
I’d Fix Hollywood by…
Read “Making more musicals!”
Shonda Rhimes

She may have elevated writers to celebrity status, but Rhimes has never rested on those laurels. The Netflix-set megaproducer and showrunner continues to deliver as she hits her seventh year at the streamer. Bridgerton launched its third season in May and has logged more hours viewed than any original series: 733 million of them, according to Netflix. She still has her executive producer credit on enduring hit Grey’s Anatomy, but her eyes are on the future — one that sees White House-set thriller The Residence, starring Uzo Aduba, expected to arrive in 2025.

I’d fix Hollywood by … “Trusting writers.”
The last thing I watched that made me jealous “The PGA Championship.”

My writer’s block cure “I don’t believe in writer’s block.”
Natasha Rothwell

Everything is coming up Rothwell. Her first creator credit, Hulu’s How to Die Alone, launched in September after a seven-year development journey. The critically favored comedy hits on the eve of an even buzzier vehicle for the writer and actress: She returns to Mike White drama The White Lotus in early 2025 after first appearing in the monster hit’s first season.

On election night, I’ll be … “Watching Steve Kornacki with champagne on ice.”

What makes a comedy … a comedy? “According to George Saunders, ‘Humor is what happens when we’re told the truth quicker and more directly than we’re used to.’ I think a good comedy does exactly that.”

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images; JC Olivera/Getty Images; Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images; Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images; Courtesy Everett Collection (2); Bill Reitzel/TV Guide/TM and Copyright Fox Network/Courtesy Everett Collection; George Lange/20th Century Fox Film; David Street/TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection
Nick Santora

Amazon is so smitten with Reacher, Santora’s take on Lee Child’s novels about a muscled vigilante-for-hire, that it recently ordered a fourth season before airing the third. If either season performs like the first two — both were fixtures on Nielsen’s streaming charts — it will be well worth the investment, one that will soon include a spinoff created by Santora.
Jac Schaeffer

Four years into Marvel Studios’ multibillion-dollar push into TV, the only thing that’s consistently worked has been under Schaeffer’s watch. Kicking off the film franchise’s Disney+ push with 2021’s WandaVision, she returned in September with her second original: spinoff Agatha All Along. The Kathryn Hahn vehicle cast its spell on critics and viewers, nearly 10 million of whom tuned in over the first week, an auspicious sign for the writer-producer’s place in the MCU ecosystem as its overall TV investment shrinks.
The last thing I watched that made me jealous “His Three Daughters. So small in scale and so enormous in meaning. No power blasts necessary.”

I’d fix Hollywood by … “Offering childcare on set. It won’t necessarily fix the current situation, but it would be impactful.”
Taylor Sheridan

Sheridan isn’t the only one keeping the lights on at Paramount+, but it sure would be hard to see a path forward for the streamer without him. His slate continues to grow with Nov. 17 arrival Landman, new seasons of Lioness, Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown and enough Yellowstone spinoffs to make his audience ask, “Kevin who?” Speaking of his juggernaut Montana drama, it returns for a final-ish sixth season on Nov. 10 as he preps the heir apparent, The Madison, which just booked Michelle Pfeiffer to star. And that news, more than his hit rate with audiences, says the most about Sheridan’s power. From Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman to Harrison Ford and Jon Hamm, he has become the A-listers’ TV collaborator of choice.
Paul Simms

To borrow a phrase from an ascendant pop star and a celebrated drag queen, he’s your favorite comedy writer’s favorite comedy writer. Simms has been at it for years, first creating NewsRadio for NBC back in 1995 after stints writing for David Letterman and Garry Shandling, but he’s really hit his stride since heading to FX. It’s where he’s got 29-time Emmy nominee What We Do in the Shadows, which saw its sixth and final season kick off Oct. 21, and is one of the most celebrated launches of the fall. Simms is also helping steer Brian Jordan Alvarez’s breakout, The English Teacher.
My all-time favorite SNL sketch “Fred Armisen’s alt-comedy stand-up Nicholas Fehn or Adam Sandler and Chris Farley as Hank and Beverly Gelfand with the Zagat guide.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous “Steve Coogan’s This Time With Alan Partridge.”
Will Smith

No, not that Will Smith. It’s the English stand-up turned comedy writer (The Thick of It, Veep) who’s enjoying a particularly fruitful run in drama as the showrunner of MI5 spy thriller Slow Horses. A bankable player for Apple TV+ since its 2022 bow, it’s released four seasons at a rapid clip (a fifth is on the way) and, most recently, broke into the Emmy race with a writing win for Smith. His feat is all the more impressive considering it was one of the only drama awards Shogun didn’t take home.

The greenlight I’m waiting on “Krull 2.”
Why can’t I stream it? “Laurel and Hardy’s Hal Roach comedies. These films will soon be a hundred years old and they still bring me such joy.”
Darren Star

When Emily in Paris premiered in 2020, few would have expected the president of France would one day make a public plea for a très gauche American TV show to continue filming in the City of Light. But that is exactly what happened when, in its most recent season on Netflix, Emily in Paris flirted with becoming Emily in Rome. Star’s heroine may be splitting her time between European capitals, but his comedy is not leaving Netflix anytime soon. Season four was No. 1 globally in August, and season five is already in preproduction.

Advice for my younger self “Stop worrying about figuring out the next season.”
Why can’t I stream it? “Kitchen Confidential starring Bradley Cooper” (Star executive produced the series and directed its pilot episode.)
Jonathan E. Steinberg

This veteran scribe has become something of a Swiss army knife over at 20th TV — running two very different and very successful series on different platforms. The first season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians has logged over 110 million hours streamed on Disney+, making for a rare YA success at the streamer and one that will return for a second season in 2025. And for those born in the 20th century, season two of aptly titled Jeff Bridges vehicle The Old Man, which Steinberg runs alongside producing partner Dan Shotz, releases its finale Oct. 24.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch “Will Ferrell’s Harry Caray was a work of art.”

Why can’t I stream it? “The theatrical cut of Amadeus is harder to find than it should be. Also, SpaceCamp.)
Nicholas Stoller

Stoller is another showrunner who’s seen success in the YA space at Disney+. His spin on Goosebumps bested Marvel entry Loki on the Nielsen streaming charts when it bowed at the end of 2023. It was renewed as an anthology, and returns Jan. 10 with David Schwimmer as its new lead. The filmmaker, who wrote and directed the upcoming Reese Witherspoon/Will Ferrell rom-com You’re Cordially Invited, is also busy filming a second season of his Apple TV+ comedy Platonic with Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch “So many. But at the end of the day, ‘Back Home Ballers’ is my fave — that and an obscure sketch featuring Chris Parnell as a centaur being interviewed for a job by Christopher Walken.”

I’d fix Hollywood by … “Changing the law so studios can’t own distribution. It is all about antitrust, baby!”
Charlotte Stoudt

The Morning Show is one of the most expensive and star-studded dramas out there. It’s also one of the most complicated to make, thanks to its marriage of current events, fictional narrative and a bafflingly long and pricey call sheet. All that contributed to its mixed reception for the first two seasons. Stoudt joined as showrunner in the third and many credit her with righting the ship — a valuable one to Apple TV+, which continues to count on the show for awards attention. It was named an AFI top 10 program of the year and scored 16 Emmy nominations, including a win for supporting actor Billy Crudup.

I’d fix Hollywood by … “Reopening Musso and Frank’s for lunch.”

The last thing I watched that made me jealous “My husband sleeping soundly.”

The greenlight I’m waiting on “A workplace comedy about a sperm bank, a lens through which to consider the state of modern romance”
Julio Torres

s the Saturday Night Live alum ever going to have a stable of shows like Greg Berlanti or Shonda Rhimes? Absolutely not. But, in an era of belt-tightening and hard passes, there’s arguably no one else getting David Zaslav to pry open his purse for such original ideas. What’s more powerful than that? HBO comedy Fantasmas, Torres’ surrealist follow-up to Los Espookys, chronicles his alter ego’s search for a golden oyster earring across a Michel Gondry-esque New York. It’s also an indictment of late-stage capitalism and our shrinking right to privacy. Expect to find it on many year-end best-of lists.

My all-time favorite SNL sketch “Maybe ‘The Continental’ for its play with form.”

My writer’s block cure “Reminding myself nothing I do is … urgent.”

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Jennie Snyder Urman

Bona fide broadcast success stories are rare. So when they show up, people take notice. And Urman has surprised on multiple fronts with Matlock. Yes, the Kathy Bates update of the 1980s legal drama brought more than 10 million viewers to CBS in its first outing. But the real twist is that the Jane the Virgin creator didn’t merely serve up familiar IP for an aging audience. An unpromoted tweak to the series’ ostensibly staid premise has elevated it from procedural to prestige, making Bates an obvious awards circuit contender.

The greenlight I’m waiting on “It’s a medical show set in 1872 Boston, where a woman disguises herself as a man so she can train as a surgeon. I’ve gotten so close so many times, but it hasn’t happened yet. I have faith!”
The last thing I watched that made me jealous “Hacks, and it’s a beautiful jealousy! I love the show so much — everything about it. I saved season three to watch, as a reward, after Matlock wrapped. And our shows actually share some fabulous crew members, so I am constantly asking them to put in a word to see if I can get staffed.”
Dick Wolf

Dun-dun! This is the end of the list, but it wouldn’t be complete without the king of cop TV. The size of Wolf’s roster is, quite simply, preposterous. He’s created literally dozens of original series over four decades, and there are, at this moment, three iterations of Law & Order and three of his Chicago-verse series airing on NBC, as well as three FBI shows on CBS. I’d type out all of the individual titles, but the colon key was pushed to its absolute breaking point back in Alex Kurtzman’s and Ryan Murphy’s entries.

Methadology: THR selected the Most Powerful TV Producers of 2024 from all writer-producers with live-action scripted series that aired original episodes in the U.S. between November 2023 and October 2024. With acknowledgment that roles and duties can vary significantly from show to show, each entrant is judged relative to slates, deal size, ratings, value to platform and studio, cultural impact, awards and that most ineffable of variables: buzz.

NBC/courtesy Everett Collection (2); Alan Singer/NBC/courtesy Everett Collection; Will Heath/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images

This story appeared in the Oct. 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.