Inside Move: ABC Fam getting series guru

Former WB exec Juergens in negotiations for post

By DENISE MARTIN

Lee

Five months into the job, ABC Family president Paul Lee has begun to bolster his programming team.

Lee is in negotiations to hire former WB development exec Kate Juergens, who has emerged as the leading candidate to fill the long-vacant post of head of original series programming.

Juergens has been consulting for the channel since before the recent regime change. She worked alongside then-programming veep Robin Schwartz on the movies "Brave New Girl" and "Celeste in the City."

Lee, a recruit from BBC America, has been actively seeking to fill in several exec positions at ABC Family since coming aboard in April. Former programming chief Linda Mancuso passed away late last year and Schwartz ankled for the top job at Regency Television in February.

In her new capacity, Juergens would report directly to Lee. Longform exec VP Gary Marsh, meanwhile, will continue to run minis and movies for both ABC Family and Disney Channel.

Juergens most recently served as development chief at Susanne Daniels' Primarily Entertainment production banner, where she worked on the NBC laffer "Hidden Hills" and the WB's "Lone Ranger" remake.

Before that, Juergens served as senior VP of comedy and drama development at the Frog, reporting to Jordan Levin. During her four years there, she worked on the hourlong dramas "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls," "Felicity," "Angel" and "Popular."

She also spent seven years at NBC, where she helped develop "Will & Grace" and rose to primetime veep.