EXCLUSIVE: Amy Israel, the respected Showtime Scripted chief, might be headed to Peter Chernin‘s The North Road Company.
There is increased speculation that Israel, whose departure from Showtime after 12 years was just announced at the Paramount Global network, may be reuniting with her former boss, David Nevins, who joined The North Road in July as CEO.
Israel, who have an extensive background in both TV and film, has been in talks with The North Road, I hear, but sources stressed that there is no deal in place. A rep for The North Road Company declined comment.
Israel joined Showtime Networks in 2011 as SVP, Original Programming and most recently served as EVP, Scripted Programming, overseeing for the development and creative oversight of original scripted series, including drama, comedy and limited series. She was the highest-level Showtime programming executive to remain at the network following the major executive restructuring earlier this year when Showtime got a new leadership team under Paramount’s Chris McCarthy and Nina L. Diaz.
Some of the Showtime series Israel has been responsible for during her tenure include Billions, SMILF, The Affair, Masters of Sex and Black Monday as well as more recent projects such as Yellowjackets, Halo, The Curse and Fellow Travelers.
Prior to Showtime, Israel served as New Regency’s EVP of Production as well as Head of Production and Acquisitions at Paramount Vantage, where she oversaw the development and production of Oscar winners No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood, and was instrumental in the acquisition of the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Previously, Israel was Co-Head of the Acquisitions and Co-Production department at Miramax Films As a producer, she executive produced Andrew Niccol’s In Time and Peter Chelsom’s Shall We Dance with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. She also produced Hysterical Blindness for HBO.
Chernin launched The North Road last year, bringing together Chernin Entertainment, the U.S. assets of Red Arrow Studios, which includes Love Is Blind producer Kinetic Content, and Connor Schell’s non-scripted business Words + Pictures.
North Road has over 85 active productions in the works including Apple’s Jason Momoa series Chief of War, Netflix’s The Madness starring Colman Domingo from Stephen Belber, HBO’s Barry Bonds documentary and movies including Netflix’s Rez Ball, about a Native American basketball team from director Sydney Freeland and writer Sterlin Harjo, and Back In Action starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz
