Carol Turner Named Head Of Production For Disney Entertainment Television

Disney has formalized the promotion of ABC Signature EVP Production and Post-Production Carol Turner, officially naming her head of Production for Disney Entertainment Television.

Turner assumed the role last spring as part of the consolidation of production operations across Disney TV Studios, Hulu, Freeform and FX under her in the wave of layoffs at the company, with then-20th Television EVP Production Nissa Diederich and FX EVP of Production Nick Lombardo reporting to her.

That role has since been further expanded and formalized, with Turner now overseeing physical production and backlot functions for both the studios and platforms including 20th Television, ABC Signature, ABC Entertainment, FX Productions, Disney+, Hulu, Freeform and Onyx Collective, with a purview of over 100 current series and pilots.

ABC Signature’s John Ziffren has been promoted to EVP of Production and Post-Production, assuming Turner’s previous responsibilities. He reports to her as do Lombardo as well as the yet-to-be-named replacement for Diederich who departed in December.

“Carol is a proven leader with the unique ability to deftly navigate production challenges and support the creative vision of our creators,” said Eric Schrier, President of Disney Television Studios and Global Original Television Strategy, to whom Tuner will report. “Just a few months into her new role, she has already made a major impact in how we manage our productions across Disney Entertainment Television.”

Turner’s purview of Disney Entertainment Television shows includes 9-1-1 (ABC), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), High Potential (ABC) and Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), as well as the upcoming series American Sports Story (FX), Tracker (CBS) and many others.

Prior to joining ABC Signature in 2020, Turner was EVP of Physical Production at Skydance; the first director of Production for International Originals at Netflix; and SVP of Production and VP of Production, overseeing Scripted and Unscripted Series at BBC Worldwide Production. Turner has been in production since 1995 in TV, film, unscripted and scripted content, working her way up from production assistant to line producer before transitioning to the corporate side in 2011.

Ziffren joined ABC Signature in 2015. Prior to that, he developed pilots and series at 20th Century Fox TV followed by eight years at ABC Family (now Freeform), as executive producer and VP of Production. As a production executive and an independent producer, he has been involved with the production for more than 1,500 episodes of television. Ziffren began his career at Spelling/Goldberg Prods., before joining Brillstein-Grey and serving as a producer for The Larry Sanders Show.