Channing Dungey

About Channing

• Visiting Asst. Professor
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Biography

Channing Dungey is a Senior Vice-President, Drama Development, at Touchstone Television. In her role at Touchstone, Channing is responsible for the acquisition and development of potential series, shepherding the concepts from pitch through pilot, as well as supervising on-air series. Currently she oversees include the Emmy-nominated third-season medical sensation “Grey’s Anatomy,” Executive Producer J.J. Abrams’ ensemble drama “What About Brian,” and theaction-thriller “Day Break,” starring Taye Diggs, all of which are on ABC. She was also responsible for the development and launch of hit CBS series “Criminal Minds.”

Channing began her career in entertainment as a development assistant for Davis Entertainment at 20th Century Fox. She then became Story Editor at Steamroller Productions, Steven Seagal’s Warner Bros-based company, where she worked on the development and production of several films including “Under Seige” and “On Deadly Ground.” Following her successful stint at Steamroller, Channing was offered a job at the studio and served for five years as a Warner Bros. Production Executive. There, she helped develop and supervise a diverse range of commercially successful, critically acclaimed films, including “Bridges Of Madison County,” “Twister,” “Devil’s Advocate,” “City Of Angels,” “The Postman,” “Conspiracy Theory,” “Rosewood”,” Space Jam” and “Practical Magic.”

Eager for new challenges, Channing left the executive suite in the spring of 1998 to become the Senior Vice-President of Material, a film production company with a first look deal at Warner Bros, that was responsible for 2000’s “Red Planet,” starring Val Kilmer, as well as 2002’s remake of H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine,” starring Guy Pearce. After being named President in 2001, Channing co-produced two films that were released in the spring of 2002: “Queen of the Damned,” adapted from the best-selling novel by Anne Rice, starring Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah, and “Showtime,” starring Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy and Rene Russo. The third film she co-produced, “The Big Bounce,” based on an Elmore Leonard novel, was directed by George Armitage and starred Owen Wilson and Morgan Freeman. In January 2003, Channing partnered with Pamela Post, a producer formerly with Team Todd, and formed Dexterity Pictures. The production partnership was focused on making both studio and independent films, as well as developing television series. In the summer of 2004, a TV pitch meeting Channing took with an ABC executive resulted in an offer to join the drama team at Touchstone Television, a creative opportunity too exciting to pass up.

Channing, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, is a founding member of the Step Up Women’s Network, a national non-profit membership organization dedicated to strengthening community resources for women and girls. She is also a writer of short fiction who was accepted to the 2004 Taos Writers Conference in Taos, New Mexico, and the 2006 Tin House Writers Workshop in Portland, Oregon. Channing is married and resides in Santa Monica, California.