20th Television Names Jillian Longnecker & Brendan Countee To Top Production & Comedy Posts

20th Television has hired former Netflix executive Jillian Longnecker as EVP and Head of Production and Showtime’s Brendan Countee as SVP and Head of Comedy Development for the studio, a part of Disney Television Studios.

Both positions had been vacant for awhile. 20th Television previous EVP Production Nissa Diederich exited in December, following a consolidation move that saw he counterpart, ABC Signature EVP Production and Post-Production Carol Turner, promoted to Head of Production for Disney Entertainment Television, overseeing production operations across Disney TV Studios, Hulu, Freeform and FX.

Reporting to Turner, Longnecker will oversee all physical production for 20th Television’s slate of drama, comedy and limited series that spans over two dozen current series and multiple pilots.

Countee succeeds Chet Dave who had been SVP and Head of Comedy Development since 2021. Dave went on a medical leave last year, and by March of this year, it became clear that he would not be able to return to work as he needed more time to recover.

Reporting to Carolyn Cassidy, 20th TV’s EVP of Development, Countee will head the comedy development team, identifying writers, shepherding projects from pitch to series order and working closely with talent under overall and first-look deals at the studio.

Longnecker spent five years at Netflix, most recently as senior director of production, original series. She oversaw production management, post and VFX on shows including The Diplomat, Ginny & Georgia, The Lincoln Lawyer and Virgin River. Previously, she was president of Physical Production for Features and Television for Annapurna Pictures where she served as executive producer on Kajillionaire, Detroit, Ballad of Buster Scruggs, If Beale Street Could Talk, Vice, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Wounds and Booksmart.

“Jillian is a talented and innovative executive with deep experience in managing complex productions, known for her strategic and collaborative spirit, supporting showrunners and production teams to bring storytelling to life on the screen,” Turner said.

Countee is the latest senior Showtime programming executive to leave the premium network since it was moved under Chris McCarthy with a new leadership and a new name, Paramount+ With Showtime.

In his roles as VP and most recently SVP of programming at Showtime, Countee developed and produced such comedy and drama series as The Chi, The Curse, I Love That For You, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America, Jim Carrey’s Kidding and Stephen Colbert’s Our Cartoon President. He is credited with getting Showtime into the late-night game by bringing Desus & Mero and Ziwe to the network. In addition to his role as a development executive, Countee served on the DEI council and is an executive champion on Paramount’s BEAT+ (Black Executives Achieving Together) team.

Previously, Countee worked in the comedy department at Hulu. He oversaw the development and production of such series as Casual, Difficult People, The Mindy Project, The Awesomes and Hulu’s first original comedy special from Robert Smigel, Triumph’s Election Special.

Countee, whose brother is TV writer Adam Countee, started his career was a writer and performer developing half-hour and digital series for ABC Studios under an overall deal. He sold his first blind script to 20th Century Fox Television, so he called his executive appointment by the studio “an incredible homecoming of sorts”.

Said Cassidy, “Brendan has an expansive track record in bringing smart, funny and unexpected programming from top talent to fruition, and possesses a unique eye for comedy. His extensive relationships in television coupled with his passion for hilarious storytelling make him a perfect fit to lead the comedy team at our studio.”