Jossen fills ABC's top creative spot

Exec VP to oversee studio's development

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

Jossen

ABC Studios has gone inhouse to fill its top creative job, naming longtime production topper Barry Jossen to the post.

Jossen’s appointment ends weeks of speculation over who would fill the highly coveted gig, which Julia Franz is departing after a four-year run.

Jossen has been with ABC Studios since 2002, serving as its exec VP of production. He’ll now function as exec veep of creative, giving him oversight of the studio’s development and current departments. Jossen continues to report to ABC Studios president Mark Pedowitz.

"Barry’s been a vital part of the studio’s success, translating creative visions into some of the most successful shows in the world," Pedowitz said. "No one is better at seeing the potential on the page and working with producers to bring it to life on the screen."

Pedowitz said Jossen first approached him about tackling the job soon after Franz announced her intentions in April to depart. Franz continues at the studio for now to help with the transition.

"It was a way to keep moving forward," Pedowitz said.

Pedowitz plans to promote from within to replace Jossen on the production side.

Jossen comes to the job with several producer credits, having won an Academy Award for the live-action short film "Dear Diary" (coincidentally, originally shot as an ABC pilot). He also recently scored an Emmy nom, along with "Lost" exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, for the mobisodes "Lost: Missing Pieces."

Cuse said he already considered Jossen a creative exec as opposed to just a production-based one.

"He’s provided so much wonderful creative input to us on our show," Cuse said. "It makes total sense to us that he’d do this job. … He’s been so significantly responsible for the quality of the shows made by Touchstone and ABC Studios."

Lindelof recounted how Jossen came up with a way for the "Lost" producers to shoot an ambitious, expensive season-one finale: Spread it out over two hours, allowing them to amortize the seg’s episodic costs.

"That two-hour season finale has become a staple of our show and many other series," he said.

Jossen comes to the job with an already strong relationship with ABC Entertainment prexy Steve McPherson, the studio’s top buyer. Jossen worked under McPherson back when the webhead ran the studio, then known as Touchstone TV.

ABC Studios heads into the new season with 21 scripted series for both network and cable; the shingle also produces ABC’s latenight gabber "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Before ABC Studios, Jossen served as an executive consultant at Imagine TV, working on shows including "Felicity" and "24." His credits include stints as co-exec producer of "Sex and the City," head of TV for Lucasfilm, a production oversight post at DreamWorks TV and a development deal at Hollywood Pictures.

Jossen spent time as a producer on "My So-Called Life," "Miami Rhapsody" and HBO’s "Vietnam War Story."