- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
Viacom Entertainment vet Casey Patterson has struck out on her own.
The long-time executive and Lip Sync Battle executive producer has formed her own production company, Casey Patterson Entertainment, which will be focused on developing and producing Patterson’s bread-and-butter: live music, variety and comedy fare, as well as talent-driven series and specials. In doing so, Patterson, who has a lengthy list of award shows and events already on her resume and has been been vital in shaping Lip Sync home Spike TV, has inked a multi-year deal with Viacom’s music and entertainment group.
“Over the course of her nearly 20-year tenure at Viacom, Casey Patterson has put Anne Hathaway on a wrecking ball for Lip Sync, Mel Gibson on a steed for Guys Choice and Spike on the map as a primetime destination for big, bold event programming,” said her former boss, Viacom Music and Entertainment Group president Doug Herzog. “She is a talented, inspired executive who has become one of the premiere live event, variety and now series producers in the business. I look forward to working with her and her company as she embarks on this new venture.”
Related Stories
Several of Patterson’s current projects, including the recently renewed Spike breakout Lip Sync Battle as well as Guys Choice, One Night Only, Rock The Troops and Netflix’s A Very Murray Christmas, will become part of her Casey Patterson Entertainment productions. The company, which will have offices in both New York and Los Angeles, will continue with series in production for USA and truTV and in development for MTV, VH1 and Spike TV, too. Though Patterson is staying mum on details, she has series, specials and feature documentary efforts set up with The Weinstein Company, Taraji P. Henson and producing partners Vincent Cirrincione and Brett Ratner‘s RatPac Entertainment as well.
“Creating event programming with series and specials that resonate in pop culture is a part of my DNA thanks to my tenure at Viacom, whose legacy is world class at connecting with audiences in this way,” noted Patterson, who was the first female hired at Spike TV in early 2003. She added: “It’s an important and vibrant time for live TV and talent-driven programming, because of the urgency to watch and the opportunity it provides networks and talent to connect with their fans in real time socially. I’m passionate about content that you experience and engage with and inspired to be expanding further into the worlds of premium live, comedy, music and series in this focused way.”
Patterson first joined MTV Networks in 1995, rising through the ranks to executive vp of Event Production, Talent Development and Studio Relations for the Viacom Entertainment Group, which includes Comedy Central, Spike and TV Land. Though her credits are vast and her Rolodex extensive, it was viral hit Lip Sync, the highest-rated series in Spike TV’s history, that likely gave her the confidence to branch out on her own. Patterson was key not only to seeing the concept’s potential and ordering the series — the NBCUniversal networks collectively passed despite its Late Night with Jimmy Fallon origins — but also to securing top talent, hosts LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigen and go-to comedy director Beth McCarthy-Miller.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day