Netflix VP of original series Bryan Noon is leaving to return to The Walt Disney Co. as president, entertainment for Walt Disney Television.
Noon will report to Disney TV chair Dana Walden and replaces Craig Hunegs, who left the company earlier this year. He starts Nov. 22.
“I am so happy to welcome Bryan back to Disney,” said Walden. “Since leaving ABC Studios, now known as ABC Signature, Bryan played a meaningful role in building the original content strategy for a world-class streaming platform that transformed our industry. His wealth of experience, combined with the overwhelming respect he has earned from his colleagues and partners, made him an undeniable choice for this position.”
The move comes following a reorganization at Disney’s TV business and as the company continues to lean into streaming, with plans to increase spending on content for Disney Plus. In the streaming race, Disney is the closest challenger to Netflix.
In his new role, Noon will head product and business affairs and work with the programming heads at Hulu Originals, Onyx Collective, ABC Entertainment and Freeform, as well as production companies ABC Signature and 20th Television.
He will also oversee all aspects of 20th Animation, Walt Disney Television Unscripted and Alternative, Disney Television Studios Creative Talent Development and Inclusion, 20th Digital Studios and creative acquisitions.
“I’m thrilled to be returning to the most famous storytelling company in the world at a time of incredible expansion in its volume of production,” said Noon. “The talented creative teams under Dana develop and curate iconic and distinctive programming across all platforms, and I’m excited to support their creators and continue the company’s storytelling legacy.”
At Netflix, Noon led the business team for original series as the streaming company grew its original programming business from a single series to worldwide juggernaut. He also oversaw building Netflix’s internal studio and forming its production and post production teams.
Before that he spent nine years at ABC Studios, moving up from head of finance to VP of business affairs.
Reporting to Noon will be Rob Mills, executive VP, unscripted and alternative entertainment, Walt Disney Television; Marci Proietto, executive VP, 20th Animation; David Worthen, executive VP, 20th Digital Studios; Tim McNeal, senior VP, creative talent development & inclusion, and Elizabeth Newman, VP, creative acquisitions.
Noon will also have executives reporting to him who will also have dotted-line reporting into their creative unit leaders.
Here is the text of a email Walden sent to staff about Noon re-joining the company:
Dear Colleagues and Creative Partners,
I am very happy to share with you that after almost a year of looking to fill the President of Entertainment role for Walt Disney Television, we have found the exact right executive. On November 22nd, Bryan Noon will join our talented team, and I’m so excited for you all to get to know him. Bryan will be leading an extraordinarily gifted group of executives that I’ve had the good fortune of closely working with since last February. I am enormously grateful for how each and every one of them stepped up to assume a greater level of leadership in our organization.
Bryan’s new position actually represents a homecoming of sorts. Prior to working at Netflix for eight years, Bryan spent nine years at ABC Studios (now known as ABC Signature), where he held roles as head of Finance and Vice President of Business Affairs. He’s very much looking forward to returning to Disney and even still has an old Disney security sticker on his car!
Most recently, Bryan served as Vice President of Original Series at Netflix, where he was one of the driving forces behind the explosive growth at the streaming platform. Throughout his tenure there, he helped to build their high-profile roster of creators and premium original content slate and brings to us a wealth of experience in crafting an original content strategy for a direct-to-consumer platform.
Bryan’s an esteemed executive who is highly regarded by so many partners and colleagues across our industry and his skill sets are extremely complementary to those of our content leaders. I’m confident that together, we will continue to foster a culture of creativity, innovation, collaboration and compassion.
Below you will find the release announcing Bryan’s new role. As we continue to build on the incredible momentum of the past year, the addition of Bryan to our best-in-class DGE leadership team is another reason I feel so incredibly optimistic about our future.
Please join me in welcoming Bryan!
Warmest regards,
Dana ■
