EXCLUSIVE: ABC Studios’ SVP Drama Development Nne Ebong is leaving the studio after 12 years, the last five as head of drama development, I have learned.
I hear Ebong is leaving for another opportunity. No one would confirm where she is headed but there has been increasing speculation that she may reunite with former ABC boss Paul Lee and join his independent studio wiip,, which is backed by CAA. For the past couple of months, Ebong had been rumored for a number of high-profile jobs, including running Barack and Michelle Obama’s Netflix-based company, filling the vacancy at the helm of Paramount TV and joining Apple. Reps for wiip declined comment.
There is no word yet on Ebong’s replacement but ABC and ABC Studios are known for promoting within, as was the case with her five years ago. Right now, there is some uncertainty at ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox TV as the two production entities will be combined after Disney’s pending acquisition of Fox assets.
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Ebong was named SVP, Drama Development in July 2013. She was previously VP, Drama Development, since August 2008. Series she has developed include Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, American Crime, Designated Survivor, Quantico, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Code Black, Once Upon a Time and Revenge.
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Ebong joined ABC Studios in 2006 as director of Current Programming, overseeing Lost, Brothers & Sisters and The Ghost Whisperer.
Prior to ABC Studios, she was head of Series Development for Shaun Cassidy Productions, serving as a producer on the company’s ABC drama series Invasion.
Ebong began her career as a screenwriter after selling a feature pitch to Fox 2000 while still a film student at the University of Southern California. She quickly transitioned from film to television and worked as a creative executive at USA Cable Entertainment (now Universal Cable Productions) on series including Touching Evil for USA Network and Battlestar Galactica for the Sci-Fi Channel.