Brett Weitz Named TNT’s VP of Series Development

TNT Tuesday named Brett Weitz as its new vice president of series development where he’ll be responsible for developing scripted drama series for TNT as it steadily increases its slate of original programming over the next few years, network officials said.

Weitz most recently served as vice president of creative affairs for the fox21 Studios division at 20th Century Fox Television. In the first three years of operation, fox21 developed such series as the TNT drama Saved, the reality hit Beauty and the Geek and the comedy FreeRide.

“I had the pleasure of working with Brett on David Manson’s series Saved a few years ago and was greatly impressed by his talent and energy,” Lillah McCarthy, vice president of series programming for TNT and TBS, said in a statement. “He is an extremely smart executive and a terrific individual.  We are thrilled to have him join our team.”

Prior to his stint at fox21, Weitz was director of drama development for 20th Century Fox Television from 2002 to 2004.  He joined that company after a brief tenure as director of drama development for Columbia TriStar Television.

TNT’s original programming lineup now includes the highly popular detective drama The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick; Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter; Raising the Bar, starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek; Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton; and Trust Me, with Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh.