Paul Lee (television executive)

Paul Lee is a British director, producer and executive. He is currently the CEO of the television and movie studio wiip. He founded the BBC’s U.S. cable network BBC America and ran ABC Family, ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios for The Walt Disney Company. During his tenure, Lee is credited with championing racial diversity[1] and changing the face of American television[2] with hit shows including Black-ish, Scandal (TV series), How to Get Away with Murder, American Crime (TV series), The Goldbergs (2013 TV series), Quantico (TV series) and Fresh Off the Boat.

Early Life

Paul Lee was born in London to South African Jewish parents Emanoel Lee and Janine Lee (born Amato) and educated at The Dragon School, Oxford, Winchester College and New College, Oxford.

Career

Lee was a director for the BBC Music and Arts department where he made Primo Levifor Bookmark (TV series), and Kalashnikov & Woody Guthrie for the BBC strand Arena (British TV series). Woody Guthrie helped Arena win the British Academy Television Awards for best series in 1989. Lee was the writer and director of Oblomov (1989) for Arena. It was the first foreign scripted film to be made in the Soviet Union before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It was filmed entirely on location in Moscow and the sleepy town of Kostroma on the banks of the Volga.

In 1998, Lee was the Founder and CEO of the U.S. digital cable network BBC America. He is credited with helping introduce U.S. audiences, U.K. formats such as renovation programming Changing Rooms, reality soaps The Hotel (British TV series) and mockumentaries like The Office (British TV series). The Office (2013) won the Golden Globe Awards for Best Television series: Musical or Comedy. It was the first British comedy in 25 years to be nominated for a Golden Globe and the first ever to win.

In 2004, Lee was recruited by The Walt Disney Company and named President, ABC Family where he helped define and name a new generation of teenage viewers called Millennials. Programs like The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Pretty Little Liars helped ABC Family succeed with the coveted 18-34 demographic, knocking MTV out of the top spot.

In 2010, Lee took the helm of the ABC Entertainment Group where he oversaw ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios. Under Lee, ABC became known as a leader for storytelling in the areas of female empowerment and diversity[3]. Lee championed: Scandal (TV series)-2012 which, led by Kerry Washington was the first U.S. broadcast drama since Get Christie Love! (1974) to feature an African-American female lead[4]; How to Get Away with Murder (2014) which starred Viola Davis made history when she became the first-ever African-American woman to win an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series[5]; Quantico (TV series)-2015 which, led by Priyanka Chopra, marked the first time a South-Asian female actress headlined a network television series[6]; American anthology crime drama American Crime (TV series)-2015, created by Academy Awards winner John Ridley presaged the Black Lives Matter movement. During its run, the series received 16 Primetime Emmy Award nominations,[7] honoring Regina King with two consecutive wins for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. The series also received 5 Golden Globe nominations,[8] Screen Actors Guild Awards and Writers Guild of America Awards nominations, in addition to winning three NAACP Image Awards. His TGIT: Thank God It's Thursday[9] block on Thursday night anchored by Shonda Rhimes’ Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder and his Wednesday night comedy block anchored by Modern Family and Black-ish helped elevate ABC to 1st position in entertainment programming. Additionally, Lee cultivated diverse comedy voices that had not been heard on U.S. broadcast television led by Kenya Barris' Black-ish (2014) and Nahnatchka Khan's Fresh Off The Boat (2015).

In 2016, Lee departed The Walt Disney Company and founded the TV and Movie studio wiip backed by Creative Artists Agency. wiip has made Dummy (TV series)-2020 for new streaming platform Quibi and Dickinson (2019), winner of the 2020 Peabody Award, for Apple TV+.

Personal Life

He is married to Deirdre Lee and has two sons.

Shows

1987 Bookmark: Primo Levi - Director[10]

1988 Exiles: Josef Skvorecky: Czechoslovakian Novelist - Director[11]

1988 Arena: Woody Guthrie - Director[12]

1989 Arena: Oblomov - Director; Writer[13]

1994 Arena: Kalashnikov - Director[14]

1994 Arena Relics: The Curse of the Firebeetle - Director[15]

2001 The Office (U.K.) - Executive[16]

2003 State of Play - Executive[17]

2006 Kyle XY - Executive[18]

2008 The Secret Life of the American Teenager - Executive[19]

2010 Pretty Little Liars - Executive[20]

2011 Revenge - Executive[21]

2011 Pan Am - Executive[22]

2011 Once Upon a Time - Executive[23]

2012 Scandal - Executive[24]

2013 The Goldbergs - Executive[25]

2014 How to Get Away with Murder - Executive[26]

2014 Black-ish - Executive[27]

2015 Fresh Off the Boat - Executive[28]

2015 American Crime - Executive[29]

2019 Dickinson - Executive Producer[30]

2020 Dummy - Executive Producer[31]

References
  1. "Diversity at ABC". www.mediavillage.com. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  2. Littleton, Cynthia; Littleton, Cynthia (2014-07-15). "ABC's Paul Lee Talks Diversity, Scheduling and Last Season's Stumbles". Variety. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  3. "Paul Lee Talks 'Black-ish,' 'Fresh Off the Boat' and Diversity vs. Authenticity". TheWrap. 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  4. Vega, Tanzina (2013-01-16). "A Show Makes Friends and History". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  5. "Viola Davis Just Made History With Her Emmy Win". Time. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  6. Wagmeister, Elizabeth; Wagmeister, Elizabeth (2018-04-26). "Priyanka Chopra on How 'Quantico' Is a 'Really Big Step' for Women of Color & Immigrants on TV". Variety. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  7. "American Crime". Television Academy. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  8. American Crime - IMDb, retrieved 2020-07-09
  9. "Shondaland", Wikipedia, 2020-05-30, retrieved 2020-07-09
  10. "Primo Levi".
  11. Josef Skvorecky: Czechoslovakian Novelist, retrieved 2020-07-10
  12. "BBC Four - Arena, Woody Guthrie". BBC. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  13. ""Arena: Oblovmov"". BFI.
  14. "Arena: Kalashnikov". BBC.
  15. "The Curse of the Firebeetle (1994)". BFI. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  16. The Office (TV Series 2001–2003) - IMDb, retrieved 2020-07-10
  17. State of Play, retrieved 2020-07-10
  18. Kyle XY, retrieved 2020-07-10
  19. The Secret Life of the American Teenager, retrieved 2020-07-10
  20. Pretty Little Liars, retrieved 2020-07-10
  21. Revenge, retrieved 2020-07-10
  22. Pan Am, retrieved 2020-07-10
  23. Once Upon a Time, retrieved 2020-07-10
  24. Scandal, retrieved 2020-07-10
  25. The Goldbergs, retrieved 2020-07-10
  26. How to Get Away with Murder, retrieved 2020-07-10
  27. Black-ish, retrieved 2020-07-10
  28. Fresh Off the Boat, retrieved 2020-07-10
  29. American Crime, retrieved 2020-07-10
  30. "Dickinson". Apple. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  31. Quibi - Dummy, retrieved 2020-07-10
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