ABC Studios Names Skydance’s Carol Turner Head Of Production As Gary French Retires

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read

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Skydance Television’s production executive Carol Turner has joined ABC Studios/ABC Signature as EVP Production and Post-Production. She will oversee physical production and post-production for more than 35 series and pilots, replacing veteran Gary French, who is retiring after 15 years at ABC Studios, the last 12 as co-head/head of production.

Turner moves to ABC Studios from Skydance TV, where she had been EVP, Physical Production, since 2018. During her tenure there, she oversaw physical production for comedies, dramas, limited series and miniseries for the television studio, including production finance and post-production. Her slate included series Grace and Frankie and Altered Carbon on Netflix, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation for Apple and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Amazon.

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Prior to joining Skydance, Turner served as the first director of Production for International Originals at Netflix. She created and grew the International Originals Physical Production team, and oversaw production of the first slates of Netflix originals from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Spain, India, Japan, Korea and Australia, including 3%, Dark, Kingdom and Sacred Games.

Before Netflix, Turner served as SVP and VP of Production, overseeing Scripted and Unscripted Series at BBC Worldwide Production. Turner has been working in production since 1995 in TV, film, unscripted and scripted content, working her way up from PA to line producer before transitioning over to the corporate side in 2011.

“This position is so crucial to the operation of a studio, now more than ever,” said Jonnie Davis, president ABC Studios/ABC Signature, part of Disney TV Studios. “Carol is one of the most respected and impressive production heads in our business. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with her, and will help us navigate the new reality of what production will look like moving forward. Gary French set a high bar for our Studio and we’re fortunate to have Carol here to carry on that legacy.”

French joined ABC Studios in 2005 as VP and was promoted to SVP in 2007. He previously served as VP of Production at Universal Network Television and New World Entertainment. For 10 years he worked at Stephen J. Cannell Productions on episodic and variety television, MOWs and feature films.

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