Dana Sharpless and Steve Sicherman, senior vice presidents at 20th Century Fox Television, have been tapped to lead the company’s current programming unit, overseeing the executive team responsible for the studio’s live-action TV series across all networks, cable and streaming platforms.
Sharpless is slated to oversee 20th Century Fox TV’s dramas, while Sicherman will manage comedy. They will both report to 20th Century Fox TV president Carolyn Cassidy.
“I feel very fortunate to hand over the current programming team to Dana and Steve, who have been tremendous contributors to the success of 20th,” said Cassidy. “They are smart, strategic and beloved by all producers, writers and directors they work with as well as everyone inside our company. I am extremely confident that under their leadership our shows will remain creatively strong and vibrant.”
Sicherman, who has nearly 2,000 episodes of TV under his belt, has worked with showrunners from “This Is Us,” “Bless This Mess,” “Last Man Standing,” “Speechless,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “American Horror Story,” Disney Plus’ upcoming “Love, Simon” and numerous other series. He began his tenure at 20th as director of comedy, before moving on to become vice president of current and drama development. Prior to that, Sicherman developed projects for MTV as director of series development at MTV Productions, and previously worked as a creative exec at Columbia TriStar Television-based Paul Stupin Productions. (His most notable project there was “Dawson’s Creek.”)
Sharpless, meanwhile, started as an assistant at 20th’s drama department before rising to her most recent position of senior vice president of current programming. She has worked on “American Horror Story,” “9-1-1,” “Empire,” “Star,” “Scream Queens” and the upcoming “9-1-1: Lone Star,” among other series. She previously spent time working for Broadway producers in New York.