Lancaster, Roth take over Universal drama

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Laura Lancaster and Elisa Roth have been named vice presidents of drama
programming at Universal Television, said David Kissinger, president of
Universal Television Productions.

Lancaster and Roth will share the job, which was last held by Carl Beverly,
formerly Universal's senior VP of drama programming.

Last month, Beverly joined Universal’s former president of programming, Sarah
Timberman, to create their own production company, 25C Productions, housed at
Warner Bros.

Lancaster and Roth will oversee ABC’s Karen Sisco, CBS’ Century
City, NBC’s American Dreams and CBS’ The District, as well as
all new drama development at the studio.

Charles Engel, executive VP of programming, will continue to
handle all of Dick Wolf’s productions, including Law & Order, L&O: Criminal Intent; L&O: Special Victims
Unit and L.A. Dragnet.

Roth comes to Universal from David E. Kelley Productions, where she had been
director of creative affairs since 2001 after joining the company in 1998 as an
assistant.

Lancaster has been at Universal since 1999, when she was hired as an
assistant in comedy programming, and she jumped to drama in 2001.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.