Santa Monica, June 1, 2023 ­­– Polygram Entertainment, the premium film and television division of Universal Music Group (UMG), today announced the promotion of Daniel Inkeles, to Senior Vice President, Film and Television Development and Production. Most recently, Inkeles was Vice President, Scripted Film and Television, UMG where he served as an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning series “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (NBC) as well as an executive producer of Alison Ellwood’s Critics’ Choice Award-winning documentary The Go-Go’s and co-executive producer of James Erskine’s 2019 film, Billie. He is based in Los Angeles and reports to David Blackman, EVP, Head of Film and Television Development and Production, UMG.

“Since joining us in 2018, Daniel has been instrumental in shaping Polygram into an exciting producer of premium film and television projects that have touched audiences around the world,” said David Blackman. “Daniel’s work on such projects as ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’ and it’s feature spinoff, has played an important role in the evolution of this company and his promotion comes at an incredibly exciting time for Polygram.”

Inkeles said of the announcement,“It’s been a privilege to help build Polygram into an industry-leading producer of music-driven film and television. UMG’s incredible artists, catalogs, and labels form the foundation of everything we do, and I feel so lucky to work with such an iconic, storied, and infinite source of narrative inspiration. I could not be prouder of the work we’ve done or more excited about the projects to come. I want to thank David, Michele Anthony and Jody Gerson for their continued trust and support.”

In 2018, Inkeles joined UMG as Vice President, Scripted Film and Television at Polygram. Prior to his role at UMG, Inkeles served as Vice President of International Production and Development at StudioCanal, where his projects included the Liam Neeson thriller Cold Pursuit and the Aardman animated film Early Man.

Previously, Inkeles was a development executive at Sony Pictures Animation, where his projects included Hotel Transylvania 2, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Open Season: Scared Silly, Smurfs: The Lost Village and The Star. Prior to Sony, Inkeles worked in franchise creative development at DreamWorks Animation, where he worked on expanding such films as How to Train Your Dragon across multiple platforms. He began his career working in the story and editorial departments on Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After.

An Emmy-nominated producer and member of the Television Academy, Inkeles is a graduate of Hampshire College.

About Polygram
Polygram Entertainment creates music-driven projects for film and television that excite, inspire and engage fans of all ages around the world. A partner of Universal Music Group, the world leader in music-based entertainment, Polygram produces content that explores the stories behind the biggest recording artists and music of all time and the cultural and social events their music helped define. Polygram works across all music genres to develop, produce, finance and sell documentary, original scripted and unscripted television and feature films. Recent award-winning projects include Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues from director Sacha Jenkins; Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground; Frank Marshall’s The Bee Gees:  How Can You Mend a Broken Heart; Beastie Boys Story from director Spike Jonze; Alison Ellwood’s The Go-Go’s; Pavarotti from director Ron Howard; Roger Ross Williams’ The Apollo; the Emmy Award-winning series “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” and the subsequent telefilm “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas.” Upcoming projects include Donna, a feature documentary about Donna Summer directed by Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano; the docuseries James Brown: Say It Loud; scripted features about KISS and The Osbournes; a docuseries about the legendary Memphis-based record label STAX; and a new series based on the life of Frank Sinatra.

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