Stephen Feder joins Disney Live Action as SVP of production
Published on 3/19/26 by Craig Smith
Disney Live Action has added veteran producer and executive Stephen Feder as senior vice president of production, a notable staffing move for one of the company’s highest-profile film divisions. The news was first reported by Deadline on March 19, which said Feder will report to Disney Live Action president Daria Cercek and work alongside fellow production executives Jessica Virtue and Allison Erlikhman as the studio manages its upcoming slate.
While Disney does not appear to have issued a standalone corporate press release on the hire, the move lands at an important moment for the live-action unit. Disney’s own corporate materials have repeatedly identified David Greenbaum as president of Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios, underscoring the current structure above Cercek as the company continues building out its theatrical pipeline. That makes Feder’s arrival more than a routine executive addition; it is part of the team shaping how Disney develops and delivers one of its most commercially visible businesses.
Feder brings a mix of production and studio-side experience that fits the role. Deadline reported that he most recently worked at Annapurna Pictures, where he was a founding executive and helped oversee films including “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Vice,” “Booksmart,” and “Nimona.” Before that, he spent time at Universal, where he worked on titles such as “The Bourne Legacy,” “Oblivion,” and “Snow White and the Huntsman.” Those credits suggest Disney was looking for an executive comfortable with both prestige filmmaking and larger commercial productions, a balance that has become increasingly important in the live-action remake and franchise era.
The hire also comes as Disney Live Action remains central to the company’s broader film strategy. Recent official Disney news posts have highlighted Greenbaum’s division in connection with projects like “Lilo & Stitch,” “Deliver Me from Nowhere,” and the upcoming “Bluey” theatrical film partnership, showing how widely the label now reaches across remakes, original features, literary adaptations, and family franchise expansion. In that context, adding another senior production leader looks less like a back-office personnel shift and more like a sign of continued activity inside the studio.
That broader workload matters because Disney Live Action is no longer defined only by remakes of animated classics. The label still includes those projects, but Disney’s recent public messaging points to a wider mandate that spans filmmaker-driven dramas, franchise extensions, and event movies aimed at theaters and, in some cases, wider company synergy. A senior production executive in that environment is likely to be deeply involved in overseeing development, managing productions, and helping keep a growing slate moving across multiple creative lanes. That interpretation is an inference based on the role and on how Disney has been describing the division’s expanding portfolio, but it helps explain why this hire stands out.
For Disney, the announcement is a reminder that major studio strategy is often shaped as much by executive appointments as by release-date changes or trailer drops. Feder is not a household name in the way a director or star might be, but for an industry audience, his arrival signals that Disney is continuing to invest in seasoned production leadership as it navigates an increasingly competitive theatrical landscape. With Disney Live Action carrying a large share of the company’s big-screen ambitions, the people guiding those films behind the scenes matter almost as much as the titles themselves.
- News Topic: Disney Company News
