Chris McCumber, the president of Blumhouse Television, is stepping down from his role, Variety has confirmed.
Jeremy Gold, Blumhouse TV’s president of production, will take over the company’s top spot on an interim basis. Chris Dickie, Blumhouse TV’s president of scripted programming, will also assist in the transition. Blumhouse TV is also undergoing a round of layoffs. The number of layoffs is said to be less than 10.
“We’ve always thrived by delivering what the market needs,” said Blumhouse president Abhijay Prakash. “As the television market evolves, we’re evolving too, so we can focus on our existing projects and continue to do what we do best, which is responsibly produce great programming. I would like to thank Chris McCumber for his great leadership over the past three years, building the team and the business, including securing two of our biggest ever series orders in The Bondsman and Scarpetta. He has laid a great foundation for the next phase of the company. We are also very grateful to Jeremy Gold and Chris Dickie for stepping up to lead the division.
McCumber was named president of Blumhouse TV in 2020. He joins the company from NBCUniversal, where he most recently led the entertainment networks division. This included the entertainment cable networks such as USA Network and Syfy. He first joined USA Network in 2001, where he developed, greenlit and launched series including Suits, Mr. Robot, Queen of the South, Chrisley Knows Best, Psych and The Sinner. McCumber also negotiated major NBCU programming deals ranging from WWE SmackDown! to Harry Potter and the Wizarding World to Modern Family.
“I want to thank Jason Blum and the entire Blumhouse team for their incredible partnership and support. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished in growing the company and producing a slate of great projects,” said McCumber. “Even as our industry continues to undergo massive change, I truly believe that disruption breeds opportunity and growth – especially when it comes to great storytelling.”
Since McCumber joined Blumhouse, the company has launched a number of projects. These include the upcoming comedy series The Sticky starring character actress Margo Martindale, the horror action series The Bondsman starring Kevin Bacon and a series based on the Kay Scarpetta novels starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Nicole Kidman. All three shows are based at Amazon.
