TV funny man is laughing solo
Johnson forms Watson Pond Prods. to develop laffers
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Johnson sealed a three-year deal with 20th to form Watson Pond Prods., where he'll focus on developing scripted and unscripted half-hour and hourlong comedies for the nets.
Deal was announced Thursday by 20th Century Fox TV presidents Dana Walden and Gary Newman.
"Brad will have the opportunity to run his own company and the studio will continue to benefit from his talents as a development executive," Newman said. "And as so many of our writers have recognized, from Mitch Hurwitz to Seth MacFarlane, when you're developing a show, Brad is one of those guys you want there in the room with you."
Twentieth is expected to name Johnson's replacement shortly.
Johnson most recently spent four years as senior VP of comedy development at 20th, where he developed laffers such as "Bernie Mac," "Arrested Development" and "Still Standing." He also had a hand in Fox reality hit "The Simple Life," as well as frosh entries "Quintuplets," "American Dad" and John Stamos' untitled ABC comedy.
Johnson, whose experience also includes writing ("Coach") and running Barry Kemp's Bungalow 78 Prods., said he was itching to get back into producing.
"My four years here were designed to use what I had learned as a writer and executive to try and get a few more comedies on the air for Fox," Johnson said. "I'm happy that happened. It also allowed me to meet a whole new crop of writers and agents and increase my profile in case I wanted to hang my shingle."
Johnson admitted that some of his colleagues "have questioned my sanity" for launching a comedy-oriented pod at a time when the form is struggling. But as a result, the exec argued, there may be more opportunity to get a show on the map.
"It's like buying at the bottom of the market," he said. "I can't believe it will get lower than it is now. There's an opportunity to make some real money."
Johnson launched his career at Showtime, where he was one of the pay cabler's first development execs. There he helped create shows like "Brothers" and "Faerie Tale Theater." He later joined Universal TV as veep of comedy, working on shows including "Coach" and "Major Dad."
Johnson then hopped to Bungalow 78, where, in addition to running the label, he also wrote for "Coach" and "Delta." He later exec produced the TV version of "Clueless" before returning to executivedom.
