Veteran communications and marketing executive Curt King, who has worked at NBC, Universal Television and Universal Studio Group for over 25 years, will depart NBCUniversal at the end of March.
King, who plans to spend some time figuring out his next act, is one of the last PR executives at NBCU with institutional knowledge whose tenure goes back to NBC’s heyday of Must See TV, in which he played an integral part. Having accomplished a lot and having worked at the company for so long, though a string of regime changes and management reorganizations — as well as a seismic shift in the business — King wanted to make a change, leading to his decision to leave.
Currently Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing for Universal Studio Group (comprised of Universal TV, UCP, Universal TV Alternative Studio and Universal International Studios), King started his NBCU career at NBC Entertainment, overseeing primetime series publicity before shifting to head Universal Television publicity and marketing, where he’s spent the bulk of his career at the company. He is currently the longest-serving corporate communications head at one of the major TV studios, clocking in at 20 years.
King was one of NBC’s key publicity executives working on its famous Must-See TV lineup, winning a Publicists Guild Award for Friends. Other popular and acclaimed NBC series whose campaigns King oversaw include ER, The West Wing, Law & Order (and its spinoffs), Seinfeld, Frasier, Will & Grace, Mad About You, Scrubs, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Freaks & Geeks, and Homicide: Life on the Streets. At Universal TV, he oversaw such hits as House, The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Hacks and Dick Wolf’s “Chicago” and “FBI”-branded dramas.
During his tenure at NBCU, King worked on programming for every daypart and across all genres, and spearheaded successful awards campaigns that resulted in numerous nominations and wins at the Emmys, AFI, Peabody, Humanitas, Golden Globe and SAG Awards, among others. At various times, he oversaw divisions within the company including series publicity, talent relations, events and operations, corporate communications and the West Coast Page program in addition to organizing dozens of Press Tours and Upfront presentations for NBCU. Under King’s leadership, UTV won multiple Prism Awards from the Public Relations Society of America (Los Angeles). In 2020, Universal Studio Group was named Communications Team of the Year.
“I always joke that one day I’m going to win the lottery,” King said. “But I’ve come to realize that with the extraordinary experiences and opportunities I’ve had with this job, I’ve already hit the jackpot, many times over. What an incredible honor it’s been to work with and learn from the industry’s smartest, most gifted, and creative talent. I’ll forever cherish this and excitedly look forward to my next chapter!”
Prior to NBCU, King worked at Hanson & Schwam Public Relations, ABC Entertainment (as a Page), and in news at CNN Headline News, WSYX-TV (Columbus, OH) and WKYC-TV (NBC Cleveland).
