EXCLUSIVE: After eight and a half years as SVP Drama Series at HBO, Nora Skinner is gong to Netflix where she will be VP in the streamer’s drama series team. Based at Netflix’s Los Angeles headquarters, Skinner, a former film producer and executive, will start at the end of May, reporting to Jinny Howe, Netflix’s VP of Drama Series.
Skinner’s appointment follows Howe’s promotion in January to oversee all of Netflix’s drama areas. Skinner is not backfilling Howe’s previous role. Instead, she will lead development of elevated and prestige dramas, tapping into her experience working on such award-winning HBO series as Succession, The White Lotus, Mare Of Easttown and Watchmen.
“Nora’s stellar reputation and track record speak for themselves,” Howe said. “She has impeccable taste and her ability to partner with artists to deliver exquisite prestige dramas is bar none. We’re thrilled to have her join the team and look forward to working together on our next generation of groundbreaking and iconic series.”
Skinner’s departure from HBO is said to be amicable as it allows a talented executive to grow and manage her own team, which she will be able to do at Netflix.
For most of her HBO tenure, since joining the premium cable network as SVP Drama Series in September 2015, Skinner had been a member of the team led by HBO’s formidable head of drama Francesca Orsi, a top lieutenant of Casey Bloys, CEO of HBO and Max Content, and a driving force behind HBO’s drama and limited series awards dominance over the past few years.
While at HBO, Skinner was the creative executive on Succession, The White Lotus, Mare Of Easttown, Watchmen, Scenes From A Marriage, The Outsider, The Third Day, Our Boys, current series The Regume and the upcoming Unt. Task Force/ Brad Inglesby and The Sympathizer.
“It has been the privilege of my career to work with Casey and Frannie, the brilliant team at HBO, and the remarkable artists who have inspired me endlessly over the past eight and half years,” Skinner said.
In addition to Howe, she acknowledged top Netflix executives Bela Bajaria, Chief Content Officer, and Peter Frielander, Head of UCAN Scripted series.
“Now, as I embark on this new chapter, I’m thrilled to join forces with the phenomenal team at Netflix, led by Bela, Peter and Jinny,” she said. “I’ve long admired their outstanding programming, and their commitment to and support of creators. The prospect of working with such a dynamic, innovative group promises to be the adventure of a lifetime. I’m eager to continue pushing creative boundaries and creating groundbreaking content at Netflix, a global leader and cultural mainstay.”
Prior to HBO, Skinner was EVP of Production and Development at Indian Paintbrush. There, she was an executive producer on Sundance 2015 Grand Jury Prize Winner Me And Earl And The Dying Girl and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as well as associate producer on The Reader and Doubt.
Before joining Indian Paintbrush, Skinner was SVP of Development at Scott Rudin Productions in New York, where she worked on The Social Network, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Moneyball, Revolutionary Road, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Julie & Julia, among other film, television and theater projects.
In addition to working on the Tribeca Film Festival, Skinner served as the Director of Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Theatrical Productions and the Co-Managing Director of their Tribeca Theater Festival.
