Grace Wu (Left) and Tomii Crump (Right)
Courtesy of NBCUniversal
Longtime casting executive Grace Wu has been upped to lead casting across NBCUniversal’s television and streaming entertainment portfolio in the newly established position of executive vice president of casting in the entertainment content division.
Wu will be tasked with overseeing scripted and unscripted casting and talent across broadcast network NBC, streamer Peacock and cable networks Bravo, E!, oxygen, Dyfy, Universal Kids and USA, reporting to NBCU entertainment content chairman Susan Rovner. Wu was most recently executive VP of scripted casting at NBC Entertainment, a position she held since 2009. A more-than-20-year NBC veteran, she has supervised the casting of “Freaks & Geeks,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Parenthood,” “New Amsterdam,” and “This Is Us,” among other series.
“There’s a reason Grace is one of the most respected casting executives in the industry; in addition to being a true champion for actors, Grace is a perpetual advocate of diversity on our screens, often encouraging showrunners and writers to think beyond how the role may have been conceived on the page,” said Rovner. “With this expansion of Grace’s purview, all of our shows will now have the opportunity to benefit from her expertise and creative spirit – and I have no doubt they will be the better for it.”
As part of the changes, Tomii Crump will lead unscripted casting across NBCU’s platforms as senior vice president, head of unscripted casting and talent, entertainment content. That encompasses casting across a wide range of unscripted programming including lifestyle and documentary, reality and talent competition, game shows, specials, live events and syndication. Crump will report to Wu alongside scripted casting leadership, namely senior VPs Teri Dean and Brian Dorfman in Los Angeles and senior VP Jennifer McNamara and director Trey Lawson in New York.
“Tomii is a leader in the world of unscripted casting who has been instrumental in identifying talent for some of the world’s biggest format hits,” said Wu. “I am thrilled to have her at the helm of our alternative casting department, and coupled with Teri, Brian, Jennifer and Trey on the scripted side, I feel lucky to have such an incredibly talented team in place as we oversee casting the vast amount of content across the portfolio.”
Crump was most recently senior VP of talent and casting for NBC Entertainment’s alternative and reality group, overseeing talent for the group that formerly comprised NBC alternative, Universal TV alternative studio and first-run syndication for shows from “Access Hollywood” to “America’s Got Talent” to “American Ninja Warrior.” Prior to that, she was a primetime casting exec for Disney ABC TV Group on ABC Television Network and ABC Studios scripted series.
Variety's Elaine Low contributed to this post.
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/grace-wu-nbcu-tv-streaming-casting-head-tomii-crump-unscripted-1234897450/
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