Former AMC Networks, Disney and Regency TV exec Pete Aronson has been named head of development and production at J30 Studios, the new company founded by “Sherman’s Showcase” and “South Side” creators and stars Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle.
Aronson was most recently exec VP, programming and production at AMC Networks’ IFC, overseeing series such as “Portlandia,” “Documentary Now!,” “Sherman’s Showcase,” “Brockmire,” “Stan Against Evil,” “Year of the Rabbit,” “Maron” and the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Aronson already worked with Salahuddin and Riddle on “Sherman’s Showcase,” and Aronson was an exec producer on the recent one-hour special “Sherman’s Showcase Black History Month Spectacular”; he’ll continue to serve as EP on the show’s upcoming Season 2. Aronson will also serve as an exec producer with Riddle and Salahuddin on series made under their Warner Bros. TV overall deal.
“I have known and worked with the guys for over a decade and their multi-hyphenate creative skills are beyond compare,” Aronson said. “I look forward to helping them achieve their vision of making world class entertainment for all platforms.”
J30 was formed earlier this year as Riddle and Salahuddin, who had previously operated under their individual company names “Riddle Entertainment” (Riddle) and “Emerald Street” (Salahuddin), joined forces. “South Side,” which originally aired on Comedy Central, is set to return for Season 2 this month on HBO Max, while “Sherman’s Showcase,” which originally ran on IFC, has been picked up for a second season by AMC. Under their multi-year overall production deal with Warner Bros., J30 aims to create TV projects in comedy, drama, animation and limited run series.
“Since arriving at Warner Bros. last year we have assembled a diverse slate of creative projects across every genre. The logical next step is to bring in someone like Pete to help us scale our business,” said Riddle. “We have known Pete for a long time, he understands how important it is to build the company while maintaining our unique brand of writing and producing culturally impactful content,” added Salahuddin.
Aronson originally worked with the duo on Comedy Central’s 2008 series “Chocolate News.” Salahuddin and Riddle later worked at “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” creating such sketches as “Slow Jam the News” and “History of Rap.”
Before IFC, Aronson was exec VP at Walt Disney Television and president of Regency Television. He won two NAACP Image awards, a Humanitas award and a BET award for his work as exec producer, showrunner and writer on “The Bernie Mac Show.”
