Moran takes president role at ABC Studios

Patrick Moran’s rise at ABC Studios has culminated in an official promotion to president of the Disney-ABC Television Group production arm.

Ben Sherwood has upped Moran (pictured) to president of ABC Studios following the latter’s work overseeing broadcast series including Scandal, Criminal Minds, How to Get Away with Murder, Quantico and American Crime.

He is also credited with cultivating relationships with the likes of John Ridley, Kenya Barris and Shonda Rhimes, and also launched the ABC Signature cable and streaming platform production division.

Moran will continue to report to Sherwood, who has led Disney-ABC since March 2014.

The promotion means ABC Studios officially has a president for the first time since Barry Jossen exited in July 2013. Moran was promoted from senior VP to executive VP at the same time, effectively putting him in control of TV production at that point.

His promotion is the latest change at The Walt Disney Company’s TV division, coming after Channing Dungey replaced Paul Lee at the top of the ABC broadcast network. At that point Moran switched from reporting to Lee, to Sherwood directly.

“ABC Studios has grown as a beacon of creativity and excellence, developing award-winning and captivating contentwith loyal audiences everywhere,” said Sherwood. “As the demand for great content increases and viewer behaviour evolves, Patrick’s savvy as a creative and business leader will help drive ABC Studios to even greater heights.”

Moran joined ABC Studios in 2010 from 20th Century Fox Television, and has worked at The CW predecessor UPN, Renaissance Pictures and New Line Television.

ABC Studios will have 28 series on air in the 2016-17 season.