IDW has launched a new division, IDW Entertainment, to fund, develop, and produce new TV programming based on IDW properties, the company announced today.  The new division will be headed by David Ozer, previously of Sonar Entertainment, Starz Media/IDT Entertainment, and DIC Entertainment. 

Ozer, who will be President of the new division, will work with IDW CEO Ted Adams on securing straight-to-series commitments from networks.  Such a strategy would help prevent situations like IDW encountered on flagship property Locke & Key, which got to the pilot stage but was not picked up (see "Fox Passes on 'Locke and Key'").

"David’s depth of distribution and finance expertise in television, coupled with his production knowledge and his extensive relationships within the entertainment community, make him the perfect choice for spearheading our aggressive move into television," Adams said of Ozer.

Circle of Confusion’s Rick Jacobs, which has long worked with IDW (see, for example, "IDW's 'Lore' Gets Movie Deal"), will run point on packaging and creative development of the division and will exec produce the projects.  IDW is represented by CAA.

A slate of projects will be put into development, including:

• Paul Zbyszewski’s Life Undead, to be co-exec produced by Chris Pollack with showrunner Zbyszewski (S.H.I.E.L.D., Lost, Hawaii Five-O) attached.
• J.T. Petty and Stephen Thompson’s Brooklyn Animal Control.
• V Wars, edited by Jonathan Maberry, on which IDW is already in negotiations with a network.