Executives

JULIA FRANZ
Executive Vice President, ABC Studio

Julia Franz serves as executive vice president, ABC Studios, the television studio of the Walt Disney Company, which develops and produces primetime television programming for network broadcast and cable exhibition.

In this role Ms. Franz oversees the day-to-day creative affairs for ABC Studios, supervising the Development and Current Departments for drama and comedy programming. She reports to Mark Pedowitz, president, ABC Studios.

Ms. Franz joined ABC Studios (then Touchstone Television) in 1995 as manager, Current Programs, and was promoted to director, Series Development in 1997. In 1998 she was promoted to vice president, where she worked closely with writers and producers developing new programming. In September 2000, Ms. Franz was named head of Comedy Development for the studio, overseeing the development of several half-hour comedies including the Emmy Award-nominated "Scrubs," "According to Jim," "My Wife & Kids," "8 Simple Rules," "Hope & Faith" and "Less than Perfect." She was promoted again in December 2002 to senior vice president, and in June 2004 she was promoted to executive vice president and given oversight of the entire Creative Department.

In addition to continually developing new programming, Ms. Franz oversees the creative direction of the studio's current slate of 23 network and cable series, including the international franchise hits "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," and the Golden Globe-winning Best Drama and Comedy "Grey's Anatomy" and "Ugly Betty." Rounding out the studio's creative productions are ABC's "Brothers & Sisters," "October Road," "According to Jim," the Emmy-nominated comedy "Scrubs" on NBC; and third seasons of "Criminal Minds" and "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS. New to the broadcast lineup this season are "Dirty Sexy Money," the Grey's spin-off "Private Practice," the CW's "Reaper," Jimmy Smits return to television in "Cane" on CBS, "Eli Stone," and comedies "Samantha Who?," "Carpoolers," "Cavemen" and "Miss/Guided." Cable productions include ABC Family's best performing original series "Kyle XY," the Courteney Cox-starring drama "Dirt" on FX, and Lifetime's highest rated series, "Army Wives."

Ms. Franz began her career as an intern at NBC. Prior to joining ABC Studios, she was an assistant at CAA in the Literary and Talent Department, and then an assistant to film director Sydney Pollack at Paramount Pictures. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

For over 20 years ABC Studios has established itself as a leader in television development and production. As part of the Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company, ABC Studios changed its name in 2007 from Touchstone Television to align with ABC's valued consumer brand.