Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul Named Head Of Communications For ABC, 20th TV’s Chris Alexander Adds ABC Studios Publicity Oversight
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Freeform VP Communications Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul has been named SVP of Communications for ABC Entertainment. She will oversee corporate communications, press campaigns and awards outreach for the broadcast network.
Bulochnikov-Paul replaces Jori Arancio who stepped down earlier this week as SVP Communications for ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios. As expected, the role is being restructured in light of the Disney-Fox merger. ABC Studios/ABC Signature is now part of Disney TV Studios, along with 20th Century Fox TV and Fox 21 TV Studios. Chris Alexander, 20th TV’s EVP, Corporate Communications and Publicity, has been named EVP, Corporate Communications and Publicity for Disney Television Studios, adding oversight of ABC Studios publicity.
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ABC Studios’ VP Communications Janet Daily will continue to oversee publicity for the label, reporting to Alexander.
Bulochnikov-Paul has been a rising star at Disney-ABC. As VP Communications at ABC cable sibling Freeform, which she joined in 2017 on the heels of its rebrand from ABC Family, she quickly made her mark with her work on the first-ever Freeform Summit, which was a success and has now become an annual event.
At Freeform, Bulochnikov-Paul also had a close relationship with Karey Burke while she was head of programming there, which also was a factor in Bulochnikov-Paul following Burke to ABC where she is entertainment president.
“Working with Tom Ascheim, Naomi was critical in helping put Freeform on the map,” said Shannon Ryan, President of Marketing, ABC Entertainment and Disney TV Studios, to whom Bulochnikov-Paul will report. “She is an incredible leader, a gifted strategist and truly one of the brightest and most innovative communications executives in the business. Naomi already has a great shorthand with Karey Burke, which will allow her to hit the ground running, and we’re thrilled to have her lead our talented publicity and communications team at ABC into the future.”
At Freeform, Bulochnikov-Paul and her team also launched such shows as The Bold Type, grown-ish, Good Trouble and more before she briefly moved to Netflix as director of original series publicity and then returned to the Disney network.
Bulochnikov-Paul previously served as VP, media and talent relations for Crackle, Sony Pictures Television’s streaming network. She orchestrated the media campaign for Crackle’s flagship series, Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, resulting in an Emmy nomination in the Variety Talk Series category – the first streaming network to ever be nominated in that category – as well as two nominations for animated series, Supermansion. Before joining Crackle, Bulochnikov-Paul served as director of corporate communications & program publicity for Current TV and Al Jazeera America. She was also head of publicity for television production company Wikked Entertainment; and director of publicity for Ish Entertainment, a production company formed under Lionsgate and senior publicist at VH1. She began her career in communications at MTV Networks.
Alexander joined 20th TV as SVP Corporate Communications and Publicity in 2000 and was promoted to EVP in 2014. Over the past two decades, Alexander has run the studio’s publicity and awards campaign efforts, emerging as one of Disney TV Studios Chairman Dana Walden’s most trusted executives. He also worked closely with Ryan after she took oversight of 20th TV in 2017.
“Chris has successfully led the communications and awards strategies for 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21, so it made perfect sense to also give him oversight of ABC Studios publicity,” Ryan said. “He and his talented team have done a great job positioning these labels as industry leaders and aligning all three under one best-in-class department will further establish Disney Television Studios as the premier home for creative talent in our business.”
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