Nora O’Brien has been named Vice President of drama programming at Universal Media Studios. She joins NBC Universal’s TV studio from sibling Sci Fi Channel.
At UMS, O’Brien will serve as a development and current executive on drama series projects, including Tom Fontana’s “The Philanthropist,” which has a 13-episode order from NBC, and the network’s freshman series “Bionic Woman.” She will report to UMS’ senior Vice President of drama Elisa Roth.
“(Nora) knows how to think out of the box, has terrific relationships in the creative community and is a hard worker who has already become a valuable asset to our studio,” Roth said.
O’Brien most recently served as Vice President of original programming at Sci Fi. During her four years there, she developed series and long form projects including the miniseries “The Lost Room” and was the current executive on “Stargate” and “Stargate Atlantis.” She also interfaced with SCIFI.com on programming ideas and initiatives.
In her new studio position, O’Brien will act as both a development and a current executive for scripted series. Some of her projects include Tom Fontana’s “The Philanthropist,” which NBC recently picked up as a 13-episode series and the new drama “Bionic Woman,” in addition to a number of pilots in development.