Sue Naegle and Ali Krug are re-teaming for a new venture.
The former Annapurna duo and longtime collaborators have launched Dinner Party Productions and signed a multiple-year overall deal with Universal Content Productions.
Naegle, the former content chief at Megan Ellison’s company, and Krug, who was co-head of TV alongside her at Annapurna, will develop and produce new projects for UCP for both NBCUniversal-owned platforms as well as third-party buyers.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Naegle and Krug — who have worked together for 13 years — said the appeal of being able to sell to outside buyers was part of why they wanted to sign with the Beatrice Springborn-led division that is housed within Pearlena Igbokwe’s Universal Studio Group. (Read the Q&A, below.)
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As part of the pact, Naegle and Krug have boarded Peacock’s adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s New York Times best-seller The Five-Star Weekend. The duo will exec produce alongside the author and Bekah Brunstetter, who will pen the script. Dinner Party Productions will also exec produce the previously announced series adaption of Lucy Foley’s The Midnight Feast in collaboration with Universal International Studios after the division landed the rights to the book following a competitive bidding war.
“Sue’s record of groundbreaking work speaks to her impeccable instincts, and this new venture with Ali and Dinner Party Productions will build on their brilliant track record as storytellers,” said Springborn, president of UCP and Universal International Studios. “Both Sue and Ali are accomplished visionaries in the industry, and we’re delighted they’ve made their creative home at UCP.”
During Naegle and Krug’s time at Annapurna, the duo launched nine shows over six years including Hulu’s Pam and Tommy, Max’s The Staircase and Amazon’s Dead Ringers. Naegle, who oversaw film, TV and theater at Annapurna, was formerly a partner at UTA (and is now repped by the agency) and had served as president of entertainment at HBO, where she helped develop hits including Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, Treme, Eastbound & Down, Enlightened, Veep and Girls.
“We are thrilled to be working with a studio that has the trifecta of an empowering culture, robust leadership, and innovative infrastructure. As long admirers of Pearlena Igbokwe, Beatrice and Jen [Gwartz], whose commitment to original and distinctive storytelling and unwavering support for writers and filmmakers aligns precisely with our vision for our company. We can’t wait to build Dinner Party Productions with them and their stellar team,” Naegle said.
Krug, for her part, built out the TV department at Annapurna. Before that, the former THR Next Genner worked at HBO and at Naegle’s former production company, Naegle Ink.
Read on for more from Naegle and Krug in our exclusive interview.
Why was this what you wanted to do after Annapurna?
Naegle: When we were at Annapurna, we learned you have to pick between running a studio or being a hands-on producer on a show. And when you realize that you are best served by having one of those lanes, it made the decision for what we are doing now much easier.
How much did you consider other studios and streamers before deciding on setting up shop at UCP? Was HBO a consideration given your history and track record there?
Naegle: I will always love HBO. Picking a place that had independence is incredibly important — and that ends up ruling out a lot of options. Our first order of business is always to be the best advocates we can for each individual show. If you’re inside of a consolidated group, that makes it harder.
Why launch something new during this era of contraction and mergers and acquisitions?
Naegle: I’ve been doing this long enough to know that the industry ebbs and flows. There’s periodic panic and people wondering if it’s the new normal, and then things change again. We’re constantly in a state of change, but part of what’s important in what we do is getting all the details right and learning how to produce, which was a challenge post-HBO. No one is born knowing how to produce. Producing encompasses a bunch of different skills and it takes some time to understand it fully. And when you know that you’re great at it, I worry less about what the market is saying.
How does the kind of programming you want to make compare to the procedurals and reboots that are being greenlit today?
Naegle: Whenever anyone talks to us about buckets or mandates, we take that with a pause and a grain of salt. Usually, when you’re at a streamer or network, you’re looking at what has worked and wanting to find something that’s foolproof. That’s impossible to do in a creative industry. There’s a comfort in procedurals and sitcoms and I miss involved in putting them together and I miss going to the tapings. But I don’t think too much about, “We know that Amazon is looking for this.” We have to figure out what works from our side, in storytelling and in satisfying experiences for the viewer and hope that we find the right place based on that. If we think too much about serving what the new mandate is, we might go a bit crazy.
Krug: A project or idea becomes Frankensteined together if you’re trying to fit something into a specific bucket. We want to get behind the writers that we’re working with, and help them shape the idea so that they’re prepared for the pitch or prepared for the meeting. Or we package it so that it is maybe a little bit more foolproof. But we don’t necessarily follow a specific mandate in that way.
You’re working on two shows, The Five-Star Weekend and The Midnight Feast, as part of this deal. Is there a common theme that exists with both projects?
Naegle: One of common themes is that they star women and are both written by women. Working with novelists is one of my favorite things. And you get to walk into a world that’s already formed and usually beautifully done. And then you can expand it and think about the story construction differently.
What else are you looking to do?
Naegle: It’s funny, people sometimes think because we’re women — and we do work with a lot of women — that we’ll only be interested in projects that are starring women. Or that we’re only interested in women’s issues. Sometimes people are surprised at the things we’re drawn to. We love psychological thrillers, suspense, mystery, medical shows. There’s a broad range. It just starts with an individual person’s dream and what they want to say. Anything that’s drawn from someone’s life or family is always fascinating. We like to sit around the table and kind of talk with the writer about what matters to them. And many times, it’s what matters to us as well.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
Lacey Rose contributed reporting.
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