Wendy Williams Following in Oprah Winfrey's Footsteps?
Wendy Williams may be following in the footsteps of media proprietor Oprah Winfrey, as the media personality tries her hand at producing her own line of non fiction television programming.
Williams, 48-year-old talk show host, recently announced that she and her husband Kevin Hunter would form Wendy Williams Productions. According to The Hollywood Reporter, WWP will develop and produce reality, game and talk shows programming for both cable and broadcast channels.
Williams will reportedly serve as an executive producer for the projects while also having possible on-camera roles. The talk show host and her husband, who also serves as her manager, currently serve as executive producers of her current talk show, The Wendy Williams Show.
"This is a dream come true,. Kevin and I have been kicking around so many ideas and are excited to be able to now bring them to life with our own production shingle," Williams said in a THR report. "As anyone who watches my show knows, I am a huge fan of all reality and game shows, and I know a thing or two about talk."
According to THR, producer Lisa Knapp will serve as the vice president of development for WWP, while sharing the role with current VP of Wendy Inc., Jill Ramsey.
"Lisa has spent a career creating and producing the kind of television shows I love, and we are thrilled to have her guide our development efforts," Williams said. "We don't plan on wasting much time, so stay tuned for some must-see programming ahead."
Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, co-presidents of television syndication company Debmar-Mercury, released a joint statement about WWP recently.
"It is great to have this opportunity to be involved on an even larger scale with Kevin and Wendy, who is such a tremendous talent," said in a statement obtained by broadcastingcable.com. "Together with an outstanding producer of Lisa's caliber, they are putting into place all of the pieces to make Wendy Williams Productions poised for tremendous success across a variety of nonfiction genres. We look forward to a long, productive partnership."
