Brad Pitt‘s production company Plan B Entertainment has hired former Netflix executive Nina Wolarsky as its first-ever President of Television, signaling a major expansion for Plan B on the small screen.
Such a move was somewhat expected after French media conglomerate Mediawan acquired a majority stake in Plan B last December. Mediawan invested in Plan B because it plans to grow the company, leveraging Plan B’s excellent taste in material and strong relationships within the industry.
Plan B previously produced the Emmy-winning HBO movie The Normal Heart and the network’s Emmy-nominated movie Nightingale as well as Barry Jenkins‘ acclaimed Prime Video series The Underground Railroad and Ryan Murphy‘s FX series Feud, so the company has already amassed some impressive TV credits.
Plan B’s senior TV executives Carina Sposato and Ernest McNealey, who joined the company from Scott Free and Netflix, respectively, will now report to Wolarsky — a high-profile hire who helped build Netflix’s library of original series after being hired by the streamer in 2012.
At Netflix, Wolarsky oversaw a range of programming, including Bridgerton, The Crown, Orange Is the New Black, and Ava DuVernay‘s When They See Us, and she also oversaw a number of Netflix’s overall deals, including those with Shonda Rhimes (Bridgerton), Jenji Kohan (OITNB), and Peter Morgan (The Crown).
Prior to joining Netflix, Wolarsky served as senior VP at George Clooney and Grant Heslov‘s Smoke House Pictures from 2006-2012, during which time she executive produced Ben Affleck‘s Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. By linking up with Plan B, she joins an equally prestigious company that produced Steve McQueen‘s Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave.
“Nina Wolarsky is our dream person to take Plan B’s television business where we believe it can go. She is a person of great skill [and] taste, and her creative and business instincts have earned the respect of the community. She brings a wealth of experience, having been integral to so many incredible series and working with the highest quality talent in the business. We are so happy that she is joining our company,” Pitt and his Plan B partners Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner said in a joint statement that was shared with Deadline, which broke the news.
“Plan B has always been a premier home for talent, and I am thrilled to be joining the team at such an exciting time for the company,” Wolarsky said in a statement of her own. “I’ve admired the work of Brad, Dede, and Jeremy for many years and I’m looking forward to collaborating with them as we expand their television business and continue to build on their legacy of supporting exceptional storytellers around the world.”
“We are delighted to welcome Nina Wolarsky to the Plan B team,” added Mediawan Pictures CEO Elisabeth d’Arvieu. “Her arrival as head of television is a major asset in continuing to develop Plan B’s prolific work and talent relationships. Her appointment is also an important step in the development of Mediawan Television’s activities, particularly in the United States.”
On the horizon for Plan B are a second season of Feud as well as a second season of Josh Brolin‘s Outer Range for Prime Video, which will also stream the company’s new series Wytches. Plan B is also producing a new season of Lego Masters for Fox and a big-budget adaptation of The Three-Body Problem for Netflix and Game of Thrones duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Plan B’s upcoming feature projects include Apple’s Formula One racing movie starring Pitt; an untitled thriller from Jon Watts that reunites Pitt with his Ocean’s 11 co-star Clooney; the A24 movie Wizards from David Michod, who directed Pitt in War Machine; Bong Joon-ho‘s Mickey 17, which stars Robert Pattinson; Tim Burton‘s Beetlejuice sequel; and Reinaldo Marcus Green‘s Bob Marley biopic, which Paramount will release in theaters next year.
