While it’s good to be front and center, none of that would happen without the people behind the scenes. Take Channing Dungey. This honoree’s influence over television just got considerably bigger.
Following the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger, she’s taking over Warner Bros. International TV Production, the division that operates around 20 production companies worldwide that make international versions of formats such as The Bachelor, according to Deadline. Continuing as Warner Bros. Television Group chief while overseeing the combined companies’ cable networks under Skydance, her portfolio includes scripted, unscripted and animation studios, along with more than 50 cable brands, including BET, MTV, HGTV, Food Network and TNT. The expanded assignment places Dungey at the center of decisions about the programming, creative talent and franchises that will shape the newly combined entertainment company.
She’s not the only one with a fuller plate. Gina Prince-Bythewood is adding another television project to her growing slate.
She is attached to direct the potential pilot of Good People, a drama in development at Universal Television based on Queen Sugar author Natalie Baszile’s novel Friends and Family. Prince-Bythewood is executive producing alongside collaborators including Mary J. Blige, Debra Martin Chase and Reggie Rock Bythewood. The story explores friendship, privilege and race as an affair and a police confrontation destabilize two Northern California families.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson returned to the screen in Street Fighter, but he’s even busier behind the scenes. Along with his dominating media empire at STARZ, which includes the Power franchise and Fightland, his sold-out G-Unit Reebok sneaker collaboration is returning to shelves in new colors this December, just in time for the holidays.
We already know that Keke “keep a job” Palmer is one of the busiest women in Hollywood, and she’s not slowing down anytime soon. She’s set to host the CFDA Fashion Awards on November 2 and already has a full slate for 2027, which includes hosting The Voice: Celebrity (Season 31), appearing in the Spaceballs movie, continuing her 2026–27 teaching residency at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and accepting her star as part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s 2027 class.
Since January 2025, Pearlena Igbokwe has helped determine what audiences watch across broadcast, streaming and platforms. As chairman of Television Studios, NBC Entertainment & Peacock Scripted, she oversees NBC’s entertainment programming, Peacock’s scripted originals and Universal Studio Group. In early 2026, she successfully stabilized and grew her division’s stature following NBCUniversal’s strategic separation from its linear cable channels, setting the stage for NBCU to become a standalone company.
The stars may get the headlines, but Meredith O’Sullivan Wasson knows how to help make them happen. The Lede Company co-founder and co-CEO added another win to her company’s portfolio in October 2026 by acquiring London-based fashion and lifestyle agency Aisle 8. The deal brings founder Lauren Winslade and her 21-person team into the business, strengthening the company’s presence in the UK.
Questlove’s documentary Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS That’s the Weight of the World) opened the 2026 Tribeca Festival, bringing the legendary group’s journey and founder Maurice White’s vision to the big screen. But his storytelling isn’t limited to grown folks. On February 16, 2027, he and bestselling author S. A. Cosby will release Lost and Found, the concluding book in their The Rhythm of Time middle-grade science-fiction trilogy.
TS Madison’s podcast Outlaws with TS Madison earned a second season in 2026 on iHeartMedia’s Outspoken Podcast Network, following a first-season finale featuring Lil Nas X. The expanding franchise also introduced Outlaws Still Recording on Patreon, offering extended conversations, exclusive content and direct fan engagement, with merchandise in development. Alongside running TS Madison Starter House, a residential recovery safe house for formerly incarcerated transgender women in Atlanta, we can’t wait to see what she has in store for 2027.