Jim Donnelly

Jim Donnelly is Executive Vice President of Comedy Development at Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. In this role, he is responsible for the studio’s comedy series development across all platforms. He reports to Erin Underhill, President of Universal Television.

Donnelly and his team support a slate of ambitious storytellers, including Tina Fey, Michael Schur, Nahnatchka Khan, Amy Poehler, Dan Goor, Michael Che, Justin Spitzer, Larry Wilmore, Alan Yang and more. He has been instrumental in the development of several Emmy® Award-winning series, such as “Hacks” (Max) and “Russian Doll” (Netflix), as well as the critically lauded and commercially successful “Never Have I Ever” (Netflix), “Girls5eva” (Netflix), “Bupkis” (Peacock), “Little America” (Apple TV+), “Schmigadoon!” (Apple TV+) and “The Good Place” (NBC).
 
He began his tenure at Universal Television in 2015 as Senior Vice President of Comedy Development. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Comedy Development at CBS Studios, where his credits included “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (Netflix) and “Everybody Hates Chris” (The CW).
 
Donnelly has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Dartmouth College. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and children.