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Universal TV has rounded out its development team with the hire of Andy Weil as VP Comedy Development. Universal TV EVP Bela Bajaria last month appointed Russell Rothberg as SVP drama/department head, Tracey Pakosta as SVP comedy/department head and Erin Underhill as SVP Drama, with a similar position on the comedy side left open. It will now be filled by 27-year-old Weil, who comes from BermanBraun, where he served as head of scripted television. “Andy has great creative instincts, strong relationships, and a good track record in selling comedies,” Bajaria said. At BermanBraun, Weil shepherded the development of the company’s drama series Alphas for Syfy and The Cape for NBC; comedy Accidentally On Purpose for CBS; the Lifetime dramedy pilot Modern Love, which was originally developed at HBO as a half-hour comedy; and Apocalipstick, a comedy BermanBraun recently sold to NBC with Universal TV.
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Great move by NBC. Weil is one of the terrific young execs in this town
Andy is the best. It’s clear to everyone from the moment they meet him that he’s smart, honest, and on top of his game. NBC is lucky to have him.
Andy is the best exec I have ever worked with. We worked on a drama and he was amazing. Funny, kind, supportive, patient… his notes were terrific. I’m so happy for him. He deserves nothing but success. I hope he’s president of a network one day.
Nerd Alert!
Love Andy, yay on him!
A prodigy in so many ways, Andy is the best of the best. Smart, dedicated, charming, the list goes on and on. Congratulations UTV!
Congrats. Apparently he too is one of the smartest execs in town.
Wasn’t this dude just looking for a new assistant at BermanBraun? Now he leaves? That’s pretty funny.
Andy is a strong talent…but can he survive Bella Bajeria?? A complete idiot! She destroyed the entire MOW department at CBS. Did Peter Sussman once again stick his neck out so she could get this job???Have CAA call on her behalf? This is common knowledge… Sussman’s Alliance Atlantis saved CSI financially which allowed her to screw Sunta Izzicuppo out of her job…the person who gave her every opportunity. Why Les allowed her to make such a fool of him…no one has the answer.The fact that she’s lasted this long is yet asnother mystery…??? On behalf of so many of us suppliers…won’t go near her with a 10 ft pole.
it seems someone has a lot of hate –
what? did bela pass you by for a job some where down the line, or better yet, where you unable to even make it past HR to apply for that job? anyone with any knowledge of the sitch will tell you that your comment is way off base – yes, those players were involved and things happened…but not the way you seem to think they did in your pretty little head.
THIS, my friend, is common knowledge.
Bela has one l and Bajaria has 3 a’s. But “brick” I suspect you are a low level dweeb who is resentful as hell to see Ms. Bajaria doing so well and spelling is just one of your many failings…as for Sunta aka, Susan, (Linda Hunt’s stunt double who changed her name from Susan to Sunta to make herself less Linda Hunt-like), she had the lowest executive IQ of any studio exec at any network. Ask anyone who worked with her what it was like to get her to return a phone call….yes, Bela rose through the CBS ranks but even her first boss who she had to fire, speaks highly of Bela to this day. No one put in longer hours as an assistant or Director than Bela. “Ruined the entire MOW department?” HAHAHA. No, I blame that on Melissa Gilbert.
Bella is an idiot. It’s an insult to creative types that she has this job. She’s obnoxious, rude and full of herself and yet I’ve never heard her say anything intelligent. Ever. Sorry for anyone who has to work with her.
She comes down the hall tapping her heels she can’t walk in and typing on her blackberry and yelling at people. Inane.
i know you’re full of it (“my opinion” – still misspelling the name as “house” mentioned, even though it’s IN the article) because i happen to know that bela rarely, if ever, wears heels that “tap down the hallway,” having been a co-worker of hers for 6 years.
I watched Miss Bela practically trip on her face in her inappropriate stripper shoes. The point is she’s a fraud and has incredible attitude. She treats co workers like dirt. It’s all about kissing her ring. If she said something smart once and a while it would mitigate the criticism but she’s so nasty. Does she have a clue? Good manners go a long way in any business.
Bela is extremely toxic and needs to learn she’s not the queen of the world. She gives women executives a bad name the way she behaves. I’m shocked anyone would think she was executive material. It’s simply embarrassing to NBC. If she had better taste in scripts or was talented at discovering talent or even if she commanded some respect it would change the tenor of how her co workers respond to her. She needs to really look inside herself. She’s a borderline cliche of a female Hollywood exec.
“Stripper shoes?” Now I know you don’t really know Bela. With her huge job and three beautiful kids, Bela’s “stripper shoes” days are a thing of the past! HAHAHAHAHA. Congrats to Andy. Let’s all reconvene in a year to compare notes shall we…
27 is just way too old for a job like that. My step son is 19, they should take a look at him for SVP.
Andy’s great, but he’s not Head of Scripted. That would be Gene Stein.
Gene oversees both scripted and unscripted. Andy is head of scripted.
Andy is awesome! So glad to hear about this.
this article may be my suicide note. i’d rather pitch to the checker at Pavillions. But Universal has kind of sucked for years, so it fits. And Andy will fit into the Universal budget quite well there , he doesn’t tip on take-out orders as I was informed by a bitter Hollywood waitress as he left with his bag of whatever.
may i ask WHO tips on takeout orders? since when did that become accepted practice. hey – buddy…it’s takeout – get a grip, you’re serving yourself.
Whatever happened to his cousin, Michael? Both those guys are Hipster Doofuses.
Great hire.
But let’s insist that this division not change its name for at least 5 years.
Congrats to Andy and congrats to Uni TV for a great hire!
May the halls of Universal be filled with Radiohead.
I’ve met with Andy a few times and like him. But Alphas, The Cape and Accidentally on Purpose were all garbage shows. Berman Braun has yet to develop any quality series even though I like many of the people behind the company.
Ah, yes, there it is – the ol’ “good track record in selling comedies” quote from on high. Such a lovely press-release chestnut that it all but has its own macro-key on a studio flack’s keyboard. I can believe someone wrote it, but it’s hard to fathom someone actually said it. “Selling” comedies? Really? Gotta love the criterion for advancement in this town. How about selling *successful* comedies– good enough, say, to stay on the air once they’re sold? And then maybe, oh, I dunno, make money? “Accidentally on Purpose”? Are you serious? And a failed Lifetime pilot? God almighty. If I thought that anyone in comedy development these days would get the reference — or anyone much in TV, come to think of it — I’d say this promotion brings to mind the classic early-”Seinfeld” episode that features a verbal skirmish between Jerry and a car-rental agent when he checks in to see that his reserved car has been given away: “You know how to *take* the reservation,” he says. “You just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation…And that’s really the most important part of the reservation: the holding.” A comedy that lasts? That’s really the most important part of the comedy-selling, don’t you think?
Thank You
Great hire! Nicest guy. Bababooey, bababooey, Howard Stern’s penis.
This is the best news. Andy will be a fantastic network exec. Writers love him!
Universal’s hired a pair of glasses. Congratulations.
This hire is a joke, and the above snippet about the hire laughable. How much talent is required of someone with the development budget of BermanBraun, and the deep industry connections of his superiors? He was given the best golf clubs, a caddy, fancy clothes and a fat wad of cash then told to hit the fairways. Also, does shepherding mean “attended meetings and gave snide, entitled remarks?”
Agreed. The guy was an assistant for two seconds (literally, in every sense of the word) and hits the jackpot by getting put into a CE position right out of college because he hitched his little yes-man wagon to the right train. It’s completely ludicrous.
And eveyone who says he’s great? Please note that they are all, most definitely, high-level executives or high-level talent. He has no time for people who won’t hoist him up the ladder.
But then again, fantastic choice for a 4th place network.
He was an assistant for a long time, almost three years. He first worked for Allie Shearmur at Paramount and then for Gail Berman, all while still taking classes full-time at USC. Check your facts before you blast asinine hatred on somebody more successful than you.
Good, God, the amount of jealous haters that comment on this site is unbelievable. I imagine most of you lost your jobs years ago, and sit at home, or in a coffee shop, waiting for your shift at the Gap to start, bitterly lamenting other people’s successes. Yes, people like Bob Greenblatt just hire so no-talent. Get real. And one person didn’t kill the MOW (which is mercifully dead, much to the chagrin of Joan Van Ark and Meredith Baxter): procedural television did. And, if you don’t know that, that’s exactly why your spending your afternoon folding low-rise V-neck T-shirts and no longer employable in the entertainment industry.
That guy is NOT 27. Is that a typo?
No, he’s 27.