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Nathan Varni

Creative Exec, ABC & Hulu, Disney Mentor

Nathan Varni is Executive Director, ABC/Hulu Drama Programming and Development. He oversees current series and development on new drama series for both platforms. In this position, Mr. Varni oversees all creative and day-to-day management on ABC’s primetime series, Will Trent, Grey’s Anatomy, High Potential and General Hospital. In past seasons, Mr. Varni served as the covering executive on The Conners, Station 19, Alaska Daily, The Company You Keep, Rebel, The Baker and the Beauty, How to Get Away with Murder, Grand Hotel, Once Upon A Time, Scandal, Cristela, The Middle, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, the revival of Roseanne and also serves as the network/studio executive on ABC’s long-running daytime drama series, General Hospital.

Mr. Varni joined ABC in November, 2006 as an assistant in programming and development working on comedy and drama series including According to Jim, Samantha Who?, Better off Ted, Cougar Town, Castle, V, 666 Park Avenue and three seasons covering Happy Endings. Prior to joining ABC, Mr. Varni worked in series development at Regency Television (Malcolm in the Middle, The Bernie Mac Show). Prior to his time at Regency TV, Mr. Varni worked in reality series as a story assistant for series such as America’s Next Top Model, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, High School Reunion, For Love or Money and The Next Great Champ. Game show experience includes working on 65 episodes of GSN’s Whammy! The All New Press Your Luck. Mr. Varni served as a production assistant and then Exec Producers assistant on the CBS sitcoms Listen Up and How I Met Your Mother. Mr. Varni earned a bachelor of arts in television production/media management from California State University Northridge.

“He explained everything in thorough detail and listened intently to everyone's questions and pitches. He made himself readily available for any follow ups we might have.”
“He gave us great direction and great resources. Then when we had to pitch for him, he really listened to every world and gave specific, clear and actionable advice.”
“Nathan is down-to-earth, warm, welcoming, and insightful. Everything about this class was great!”
“Nathan is incredibly generous and knowledgeable about the business and about storytelling. He gave us plenty of food for thought on how to develop our ideas as well as how to navigate the business/pitching side of entertainment. I appreciate that he was patient and asked great questions about everyone’s work. He’s very encouraging, but also very sharp eyed.”
“Nathan was so real. Very open-minded. Gave excellent guidance. And best of all offered to have a follow-up with each of us in the class if we wanted to re-pitch or talk through something about pitching. So unbelievably generous!!!!”
“This class is invaluable. Nathan is an expert in his field. He imparted knowledge into the students via effective communication and engaging material. Both patient and passionate, he has the unique ability to individually meet students at their current levels while guiding them to their creative potential.”

Current Classes