DreamWorks Animation taps Katie O’Connell Marsh to lead TV expansion into live action

DreamWorks Animation has tapped Katie O’Connell Marsh, who helped build Gamount’s international TV division with such series as “Hannibal” and “Narcos,” to head up its new global live-action television business.

DreamWorks Animation has had success adapting its hit animated franchises for the small screen as it seeks to diversify operations and become less reliant on animated films. The Glendale studio has a partnership to supply animated shows to Netflix.

Now Marsh will help the company as it expands its television business in the live action realm when she takes her post in January. She will be based at the company’s Glendale headquarters.

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“Television has quickly grown into one of our most successful businesses, and as the demand for kids and co-viewing content continues to rise, extending the DreamWorks Animation brand to live-action TV in a strategic and financially disciplined way will spur even further growth,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, in a statement.

DWA President Ann Daly said the company’s foray into live action would enable the company to keep up with the evolving television landscape and offer “another creative lens with which to explore our library of rich storytelling and memorable characters that have resonated with audiences for the past two decades.”

Marsh comes to DreamWorks having previously served as the CEO of the international TV production arm of French entertainment group Gamount. She has standing relationships with Netflix, as Gaumont helped develop and produce the streaming sites originals “Narcos,” “Hemlock Grove” and the upcoming “F Is For Family.”

That relationship could translate well as DreamWorks Animation inked a deal in 2013 that called for DWA to produce 300-plus hours of original programming for Netflix using the company’s existing properties.

Marsh has previously served as senior vice president of development at NBC, where she worked on such series as “Lipstick Jungle” and “30 Rock,” as well as Imagine Television, where she developed projects including “Arrested Development” and oversaw series such as “24.”

She is a professor in the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and is a regular lecturer at alma mater University of Notre Dame.

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