David Nevins Joins Peter Chernin’s The North Road Company As CEO

Peter White
·5 min read
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David Nevins is back in business.

Nevins, who left Paramount Global last year after a 12-year run in charge of Showtime, has been named CEO of Peter Chernin’s The North Road Company. He was most recently Chairman and CEO of Paramount Premium Group and Chief Creative Officer of Paramount+ Scripted Series.

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It comes a year after Chernin launched the company, bringing together Chernin Entertainment, the U.S. assets of Red Arrow Studios, which includes Love Is Blind producer Kinetic Content, and Connor Schell’s non-scripted business Words + Pictures.

Nevins and Chernin have known each other for years; Nevins was EVP, Programming at Fox during Chernin’s time there, where he oversaw development and current programming for series including Malcom in the Middle, The Bernie Mac Show and the first season of 24. When he was President of Imagine TV, between 2002 and 2010, the company also had a first-look deal with Fox.

Nevins will oversee North Road’s portfolio, which includes those companies above, as well as Turkish producer Karga Seven Pictures and a stake in Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, and work closely with Jenno Topping, Jan Frouman, Chris Coelen, CFO Darian Singer and Schell.

North Road has over 85 active productions in the works including Apple’s Jason Momoa series Chief of War, Netflix’s The Madness starring Colman Domingo from Stephen Belber, HBO’s Barry Bonds documentary and movies including Netflix’s Rez Ball, about a Native American basketball team from director Sydney Freeland and writer Sterlin Harjo, and Back In Action starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz

Chernin told Deadline that he believed Nevins was “one of the handful of the best creative/business execs” in the industry.

“I’m a believer that when you put the best people together, you will usually win and we have an extraordinary group of people here,” he added. “If you add David to that mix, it’s a pretty potent mix and we believe that makes us incredibly well positioned to build a unique, high-quality studio.”

It’s been a tough year for film and TV with cost-cutting, layoffs and other financial concerns. But Chernin said that he’s optimistic that this will bring out new business models. “I think the platforms are going to be looking for more financial partnerships, people to control rights, to take on a bigger piece of deficits, and we’re uniquely positioned to do that,” he said. “I don’t want to be pollyannish, but if anything, I feel even better now than I did [last year]. It’s clearly a period of disruption in the business and I think disruption creates huge opportunities for a company like ours. I think we’re in a position to be a good partner in those changing business models and, if anything, the opportunities are even better, and adding David is just a game changer.”

Nevins told Deadline that’s he excited to be entrepreneurial and this role can combine his experience both on the platform side and producing side.

“It’s an interesting time in the business, I think there’s a lot of potential for well-funded, private companies to grow,” he said. “I’ve got really strong relationships with writers and directors and actors. But at the same time, I’ve sat in the chair, and I understand all the pressures that the buyers are feeling. I think I can, therefore be a really good partner.”

He said that he spent the last six months analyzing where the business is going over the next few years. “Challenging times bring out the best, and I think there’s enormous opportunity in these individuals and given the partners we have and the sort of access to capital that we have, I think there’s enormous potential in near and medium terms.”

Nevins added that he believes deal structures are “going to be less uniform” going forward with different structures in place at different networks and platforms. “There’s going to be more opportunity to do some novel things, if you’re bringing real financing to the table,” he said.

North Road has real financing. The company received a significant amount of funding to build out its production group. In addition to the $500 million from longtime Chernin partner Providence Equity Partners and $300 million in debt financing from Apollo that the former Fox chief put together at launch, it also added an additional $150 million from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Chernin and Nevins both said that they were looking internationally. “There will be meaningful acquisition opportunities,” said Chernin.

During his time at Paramount, he was responsible for all aspects of Showtime, as well as scripted original dramas and comedies for the Paramount+ streaming service. He also oversaw BET and Paramount Television Studios, and prior to that, he was in charge of CBS Entertainment. During his time as President of Entertainment, and later as Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks, he was responsible for series including Homeland, Billions, Yellowjackets, Dexter: New Blood, Your Honor, The Chi, Twin Peaks, Ray Donovan, Shameless, The Affair, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who is America, and The Circus.

Prior to that he was President of Imagine Television, where he produced series including 24, Friday Night Lights, and Parenthood.

Chernin was widely considered one of the executives, alongside the likes of Bob Iger, Barry Meyer, Michael Lynton and Les Moonves, that helped secure a strike during the 2007/08 writers strike.

He told Deadline that he has “enormous sympathy” for the writers and urged “both sides to figure out a way to get this settled”.

“This thing can be solved,” he added. “I don’t think there’s some magical human that’s going to come out. It takes real commitment from both sides.”

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