20th Television has promoted Jenna Riley to senior vice president of drama development. In addition, Jade-Addon Hall has joined the studio as vice president of drama development.
In her new role, Riley now has oversight over 20th TV’s drama development team. She will report to Carolyn Cassidy, the executive vice president of development. Hall will report to Riley.
Riley takes over the role previously held by Michelle Mendelovitz, who exited 20th TV in January. She was most recently the studio’s vice president of drama development.
“Jenna has a long and prolific history with 20th, where she has developed exceptional relationships across the creative community and a unique ability to consistently elevate material,” said Cassidy. “Most recently, she nurtured our slate of drama pilots into series orders including ‘Will Trent,’ Milo Ventimiglia’s ‘The Company You Keep’ and ‘True Lies.’ She has a deep passion for television, and you’d be hard pressed to find a series that she hasn’t devoured. Karey [Burke] and I feel confident in and excited for her ability to nurture the next generation of breakout dramas for our Disney platforms.”
Riley originally joined 20th TV in 2009 as an assistant to chairman and CEO Dana Walden and Gary Newman. In addition to the projects Cassidy mentioned, Riley previously spearheaded the development of “The Resident,” now in its sixth season on Fox.
“Jade-Addon is an incredible addition to the drama team. He has great creative instinct and has a true passion for storytelling,” Cassidy added. “We look forward to his fresh perspective and are happy to have him back in the Disney fold where he started his career.”
Hall was previously the vice president of current programming at Lionsgate TV. In his time at the independent studio, he worked on shows like the “Power” universe, “Run the World,” “Step Up,” and “Heels,” all of which aired on Starz. He also worked on shows like “Welcome to Flatch” at Fox, “Dear White People” for Netflix, and the “1619 Project.” Prior to that, he was at BET, where he helped launch the streaming service BET+. He has also worked at Disney Channel and Disney XD.
