George Stephanopoulos Launches Production Company With ABC News (EXCLUSIVE)
Viewers of ABC are accustomed to seeing George Stephanopoulos each weekday morning on “Good Morning America” and on Sundays on “This Week.” Soon, they may be able to see more of his work at many different times.
Stephanopoulos will debut two long-form programs on Hulu, all part of a new production company ABC News is launching with him. George Stephanopoulos Productions is expected to specialize in nonfiction projects that include news-making interviews as well as investigative journalism, and its launch was announced by Kim Godwin, ABC News’ president. Stephanopoulos, who has worked at ABC News since joining as a political analyst after a term as an adviser in President Bill Clinton’s White House, is expected to produce projects across Walt Disney properties that include ABC, Disney Plus, FX, Hulu and National Geographic.
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“There are so many important stories out there to be told,” Stephanopoulos said in a prepared statement. “I’m excited about expanding into this arena with our stellar team at ABC News.”
More top news anchors are putting together broader production deals at the media companies that employ them — particularly as conglomerates like Disney, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS begin to focus more heavily on a broader array of media assets and not just their broadcast and cable networks. At NBCUniversal, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow is in the process of putting together a pact that is expected to call for her to create programming across the media company’s portfolio. Robin Roberts, Stephanopoulos’ co-anchor on “GMA,” launched Rock’n Robin Productions in 2014, and has recently created specials for Lifetime, the cable network whose parent, A+E Networks, is partially owned by Disney. Early details of the new venture were revealed after ABC News decided to give “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir some of the breaking-news and special-report duties across the broadcast day that Stephanopoulos previously held.
Two Stephanopoulos projects are at the ready. The anchor will interview former MI6 spy Christopher Steele for a worldwide exclusive billed as “Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind The Steele Dossier,” which is slated to begin streaming Monday, October 18, on Hulu. The interview will mark the first for Steele since the publication of the series of intelligence reports now known as the Steele dossier, which contained allegations of collusion between Russia and former President Donald Trump’s campaign, including a claim the Russians held a salacious tape of Trump as “kompromat.” Steele is expected to answer tough questions about his credibility and the accuracy of his claims. One of the questions asks why the tape, if it existed, has never appeared.
Another project, “The Informant: Fear and Faith in the Heartland,” begins streaming Monday, November 1, on Hulu. The documentary offers a never-before-seen look at the takedown of a terrorist attack that could have rivaled the Oklahoma City bombing, and features first-person accounts from key players who risked their lives to stop the plot, as well as exclusive undercover videos, audio recordings and surveillance images.
Jennifer Joseph, a longtime ABC News producer who has spent her entire career in longform production, will work as an executive producer at George Stephanopoulos Productions while maintaining her role as a senior producer at “20/20.” She started her time at ABC News as a researcher for Barbara Walters and worked her way up to becoming a producer for the famous anchor on both “20/20″ and on her famous specials.
“George’s straightforward reporting and tough-but-fair interviews have been a staple of ABC News over the past two decades,” said Godwin, in a statement. “I can’t wait to watch as he brings those talents to this new space, sharing this informative and riveting content with our viewers.”
“Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind The Steele Dossier” and “The Informant: Fear and Faith in the Heartland” are produced by George Stephanopoulos Productions for Hulu. Jennifer Joseph is the executive producer of GSP. Eamon McNiff also serves as an executive producer for “The Informant: Fear and Faith in the Heartland.”
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