Netflix’s Drama Head Jinny Howe Expands Role, Talks ‘Partner Track’, ‘Manifest’, ‘Virgin River‘ Future & More Romance With ‘Ransom Canyon’

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Serendipity is a key narrative device in romantic storytelling, and it played a role in Jinny Howe’s 2018 move to Netflix after more than 13 years at John Wells Productions.

During her job interview, she professed her love for lush romances, especially from her beloved Jane Austen/Regency era, and after she was hired, she got to work on Bridgerton‘s maiden season as her first project.She followed the Shondaland Regency romance drama with two female-driven limited series, Shondaland’s Inventing Anna and John Wells Prods.’ Maid.

Before any of the shows had premiered to become global hits, Howe was promoted in fall 2020 to Head of Drama, Development, overseeing development of all drama series outside of the Spectacle + Event area and those coming out of Netflix’s roster of overall deals.As the slate of projects she put in development in that role is starting to hit the platform starting this Friday with Partner Track — which appears on track to get a second season — Howe a couple of months ago received another promotion which has not been made public until now: She was elevated to oversee all of drama, including current series, plus acquisitions and licensed content, adding shows like Virgin River Season 5, Firefly Lane Season 2 and Manifest Season 4 to her purview. (Renate Redford, who had been overseeing current drama series, is currently shepherding overall deals, filling in for Nne Ebong, who is on a maternity leave.

Her duties beyond that are TBD.)As Virgin River, based on Robyn Carr’s romance novels, is filming its fifth season (more on that in a bit), Howe and her team are betting on another contemporary romance book series, Jodi Thomas’ Ransom Canyon, to potentially become Netflix’s next hit in the genre.“It’s a