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Comedy development exec Andy Weil is exiting Netflix after 11 years to join Amazon as its new head of comedy. The exec rejoins his former Netflix boss Peter Friedlander, now head of global TV at Amazon MGM Studios.
Weil is a well-known comedy buff who has championed some of Netflix’s biggest laffers, including “Master of None,” “A Man on the Inside,” “Nobody Wants This,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Bojack Horseman,” “Tires” and more. He also developed and worked on Netflix’s Emmy-winning anthology series “Black Mirror.” He also helped revive “Girls5eva” at Netflix, which should have been a bigger hit.
“He has deep creative instincts, strong relationships across the comedy community, and a proven track record of identifying and developing standout series,” Friedlander said in a memo to staffers. Weil will officially join on Sept. 14.
Before Netflix, Weil was VP of comedy development at Universal TV, where he reported to Tracey Pakosta, who eventually became his boss at Netflix as well. Earlier in his career, Weil was head of scripted television at BermanBraun, working on series such as “Alpha” and “The Cape.”
Here is Friedlander’s memo announcing Weil’s hire:
Team,
I’m pleased to share that Andy Weil will be joining us as Head of Comedy TV reporting to me. His first day is Monday, September 14th.
Andy comes to us from Netflix, where he spent more than 11 years leading comedy development, after previously working at Universal Television. He has deep creative instincts, strong relationships across the comedy community, and a proven track record of identifying and developing standout series such as Master of None, Nobody Wants This, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Black Mirror, Bojack Horseman, and Tires. I’m looking forward to seeing what he builds as we continue to grow our comedy footprint.
Please join me in welcoming Andy to the team.
–Peter
