HBO has tapped a new head of series and specials, naming United Talent Agency executive Sue Naegle as president HBO Entertainment.
Naegle, who has spent the past 16 years at UTA, most recently as partner and co-head of its television department, is scheduled to begin her new job, overseeing all of the premium network’s original series and specials, later this month in Los Angeles. She will report to Michael Lombardo, president, programming group and West Coast operations, HBO.
Naegle succeeds Carolyn Strauss, who resigned her position last month.
At UTA, Naegle worked with HBO on family funereal series Six Feet Under and the upcoming vampire show, True Blood, a lineage that made her a front-runner for the position.Her credits also include packaging ABC’s Men in Trees and the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show.
Naegle began her career in the UTA mailroom in 1994, before becoming an agent. She was named co-head of the TV department and partner in 1999.
“We just think it’s a perfect fit,” said HBO co-president Richard Plepler and Lombardo in a joint statement. “Sue has great taste, superb relationships in the creative community and an innate sense of what makes a great HBO show. We are thrilled to welcome her into the family.”
Added HBO chairman and CEO Bill Nelson, “Series programming has long been at the heart and soul of HBO’s program lineup. To bring in someone of Sue’s caliber to oversee a new generation of HBO programming is truly exciting.”
Naegle said she was intrigued by the prospects of joining the premium network
“I work in television, but I am also a great fan of television. At UTA, I was part of an amazing team dedicated to helping writers fulfill their creative ambitions,” she said in a statement. “HBO has always set the standard for excellence in programming and as the leading place for artists to do what they do best. The opportunity to be a part of that process from development to execution was something I could not pass up.”
