Michelle Mendelovitz is leaving 20th Television, where she was the studio’s head of drama. She will stay on until the end of the month.
No replacement has been named.
Mendelovitz joined 20th in March 2020 from Apple, where she was a creative executive. During her tenure, Disney reorganized its studio division to further align the assets it gained from Fox. ABC Signature was folded into 20th Television (which had earlier dropped the “Fox” part of its name), which greatly expanded Mendelovitz’s responsibilities and team.
During Mendelovitz’s time with 20th, the studio developed Sterling K. Brown’s “Washington Black” and the Mike Tyson series “Tyson” for Hulu, as well as “Spiderwick Chronicles” at Disney+. She oversaw overall deals with Lana Cho, Jac Schaffer and Linda Yvette Chavez.
Mendelovitz played a big role in getting Ronald D. Moore, who developed “For All Mankind” with Mendelovitz at Apple, into the Disney fold. The “Battlestar Galactica” creator already has three projects in the works: Jon Chu’s “Swiss Family Robinson” and “Society Of Explorers and Adventurers” at Disney+, and “Court of Thorns and Roses” at Hulu.
With Apple, Mendelovitz oversaw “Servant,” “Severance,” “Defending Jacob,” “Invasion,” the LGBTQ docuseries “Visible: Out On Television.” Prior to Apple, Mendelovitz was a vice president of scripted programming at Sony Pictures TV. She began her career in 2006 at CBS.