Julie Plec is departing from her longtime studio home at Warner Bros. Television, heading to Universal Television in a new four-year overall deal.
The new agreement sees the prolific producer and her company, My So-Called Company, exit the studio where she created and ran “The Vampire Diaries” and its spinoffs “The Originals” and “Legacies.” Plec, who had been at WBTV for more than a decade, is said to have been courting multiple offers before landing at Universal with the rich four-year deal.
“Six months ago we made a target wishlist of talented creators we really wanted to work with. Julie Plec was at the very top of that list,” Universal Television president Pearlena Igbokwe said in a statement. “With all of the options available to her, Julie chose Universal Television. We are overjoyed and can’t stop smiling! Julie is an expert storyteller who has created characters that have left an indelible mark on the audience. The sky’s the limit for this new collaboration.”
“I’m thrilled to embark on a new journey with Pearlena and the group of extraordinary women who are ruling the world at Universal Television,” said Plec. “They’ve made it abundantly clear just how much opportunity there is at the studio right now, with the launch of Peacock and their active relationships with the other streamers, not to mention the broadcast opportunities. I love making television that is both thrilling and emotionally powerful, and I look forward to the adventure ahead at my new home. I am also grateful for my current home, WBTV, and look forward to continuing to nourish the shows we happily built together over the last decade.”
Plec co-created “The Vampire Diaries” with Kevin Williamson in 2009 for The CW and served as showrunner on all eight seasons of the fantasy drama. She went on to co-create both spinoffs, “The Originals,” which ran for five years, and “Legacies,” which is currently in its second season and has been renewed for a third. She also directed and executive produced the pilot for The CW’s “Roswell, New Mexico.”
She has also set “The Girls on the Bus,” an adaptation of the memoir by New York Times writer Amy Chozick, at Netflix.