NBC Entertainment casting chief Marc Hirschfeld is expanding his domain, adding Peacock cable properties to his portfolio.
As part of a new multiyear pact with the Peacock, Hirschfeld has been upped to exec VP of casting for NBC Universal Television. In addition to casting all NBC scripted shows, he’ll do the same for USA Network, Sci Fi and (assuming it gets back into scripted fare) Bravo.
Exec, who has offices in both Gotham and Los Angeles, will report to Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, co-heads of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios.
Silverman called Hirschfeld “the gold standard in the television industry as far as casting executives are concerned.”
Bringing Hirschfeld into the cable fold won’t cause much disruption at the cablers, since the nets don’t have a formal casting exec structure in place, an NBC rep said. Instead, the cablers rely on consultants.
Hirschfeld has been at NBC since 1999, a tenure that has seen the exec oversee the casting of skeins such as “The Office,” “Heroes,” “Friday Night Lights” and “My Name Is Earl.”
Before the Peacock, Hirschfeld spent 12 years building up Liberman/Hirschfeld Casting with then-partner Meg Liberman. He snagged several Emmy noms for casting “Seinfeld,” and in 1998, won the Emmy for casting “From the Earth to the Moon.”
His pre-NBC casting coups at Liberman/Hirschfeld include the ensembles for “The Larry Sanders Show,” “3rd Rock From the Sun,” “NewsRadio,” “Married … With Children” and “The Nanny.” Before launching his own shingle, Hirschfeld worked as director of talent for Norman Lear’s Embassy Television.
