Talk-show host and executive producer Ellen DeGeneres has
signed a multi-year, exclusive production deal with Warner Bros. Television. The new deal
will continue to expand the efforts of DeGeneres' production company, A
Very Good Production, in partnership with several Warner Bros.' TV divisions.
Lauren Corrao, formerly Comedy Central's president of original
programming and head of development, has been hired to run A Very Good
Production. Corrao joined Comedy Central in 2002 as SVP of original programming and head of development, and developed such shows as The Sarah Silverman Program, RENO 911!, Important Things with Demetri Martin and Chappelle's Show. She was promoted to EVP in 2005 and named president in 2007.
Under the new deal, DeGeneres and A Very Good Production
will develop and produce scripted primetime programs for Warner Bros.
Television; scripted and unscripted broadcast and cable series for Warner
Horizon Television; and syndicated programs for Telepictures Productions, which
produces DeGeneres' own talk show. Warner Bros. also has a first-look deal with
DeGeneres, who has nearly 5.4 million Twitter followers, on all digital, social
media and interactive gaming projects.
"I'm so happy to be expanding my relationship with
Warner Bros.It's kind of becoming a
family affair. My brother works on the lot and fingers crossed, my mother's up
for the role of Charlie Sheen's love interest on Two and a Half Men.So this is really working out," said
DeGeneres in a statement.
This deal is a production deal and is entirely separate from DeGeneres' deal to host Ellen, which is renewed on stations across the country through the 2013-14 season.
