Nancy Tellem | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1952-12-13)December 13, 1952 (age 72) |
| Alma mater | University of California Berkeley University of California Hastings College of the Law |
| Occupation | Entertainment executive |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Nancy Tellem (born December 13, 1952) is the chief media officer and executive chairwoman of Eko (formerlyInterlude (interactive video)), a start-up which has created an online platform.[1] She is the onetime entertainment and digital media president ofMicrosoft[2] Xbox Entertainment Studios, and a former president ofCBS Network Television Entertainment Group, formerly CBS Entertainment Network and CBS Studios. She is co-founder of BasBlue, Inc,[3] a nonprofit organization.
Tellem was born to aJewish family inDanville, California, the daughter of an anesthesiologist mother and orthopedic surgeon father. Her parents were Jewish survivors of theHolocaust.[4][5] Tellem got hooked on TV as a child through fan magazines that the networks used to mail out during the summer to promote new shows.[6] As an undergraduate at theUniversity of California Berkeley, she interned one summer for CongressmanRon Dellums (D-Calif.) onCapitol Hill and met her future husband,Arn Tellem.[7] After earning a JD from theUniversity of California Hastings College of the Law,[8][9] she practiced law as a business litigator for five years in Los Angeles. Among her first jobs was chasing down people who claimed to be heirs toHoward Hughes's estate. Tellem then jumped to entertainment, working initially atColumbia Pictures Television on famed lawyerF. Lee Bailey's short-lived 1982 showLie Detector. Eventually she would end up working forMerv Griffin Enterprises, including on hisWheel of Fortune show before moving toLorimar Television, where she was in the business affairs department.[10]
When Lorimar merged withWarner Bros. television,Leslie Moonves became head ofWarner Bros Television. In 1987, he promoted Tellem to Executive Vice President for Business and Financial Affairs and was part of the team that created the landmark showsFriends andER. When Moonves became head ofCBS Entertainment in 1995, two years later, he appointed Tellem the network's Executive Vice President of Business Affairs and President ofCBS Productions, the unit responsible for producing original series for the network.
In 1998, Moonves became the president of CBS, and named Tellem his successor.[11] That year Tellem ascended to the presidency ofCBS Network Television Entertainment Group,[12] where she oversaw programming, development, production, business affairs and network operations for the CBS Entertainment Network and CBS-Paramount Studios. She was responsible for deciding which shows appeared on CBS, supervised the prime-time,daytime, late-night and Saturday morning lineup on bothCBS and later,The CW Television Network - the merged network ofThe WB andUPN - including shows likeCSI,Survivor,Everybody Loves Raymond,The King of Queens, andGossip Girl. In 2010, she stepped down as president, and took on a new role as a senior advisor to Moonves.[13]
Tellem was the second woman in television history, afterABC'sJamie Tarses, to hold the top entertainment post at a major broadcast network. In 2003, she was named the third most powerful woman in entertainment byThe Hollywood Reporter.[14] From 2006 through 2008,Forbes magazine ranked Tellem 75th, 49th and 32nd, respectively, on its annual list of the100 Most Powerful Women.[15][16][17] She placed third onEntertainment Weekly's 2008 list of the 25 smartest people in TV for restoring CBS's entire prime-time line-up quickly after the 100-day writers’ strike.[18]
In June 2012, reports surfaced thatMicrosoft was looking to hire Tellem to head the software giant's entertainment division, which included the company'sXbox andXbox Live products.[19] In September 2012, Tellem joined the company as entertainment and digital media president, and set about putting together a team to develop entertainment content that would be available exclusively through the Xbox platform.[20] She left the company when the studio shut down in October 2014.
In April 2015, Tellem became executive chairman and chief media officer ofInterlude, a technology company and creator of proprietary technology used in interactive storytelling. Interlude is now known aseko. Tellem is also an investor in the company, and one of its board of directors.[21]
In 2015, Tellem launched BasBlue, Inc. a nonprofit organization providing access, programming, mentorship and education to underrepresented and under-resourced women and non-binary individuals.[22][23]
In 2006, Tellem was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, in recognition of her contributions to the electronic arts.[24] Two years later she received aNational Association of Television Program Executives' Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, which recognizes television professionals who exhibit extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating TV programming.[25]
Tellem is married to former sports agentArn Tellem, the vice chairman ofPalace Sports & Entertainment, which owns theDetroit Pistons.[26] The couple has three sons: Michael, Matthew and Eric.[27]