Following the news of Kevin Tsujihara’s exit from Warner Bros as the studio’s chairman and CEO, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey moved quickly to bringing in an interim team to handle the running of the studio until a permanent replacement is found.
The three names that will report to the WarnerMedia CEO Stankey are Toby Emmerich, Peter Roth and Kim Williams.
Emmerich oversees WB’s movie’s as chairman of the Warner Bros. motion picture group. Meanwhile, Roth works on the TV side as the studio’s television group president and they’ll be joined by the final member of the team Warner Bros Entertainment executive VP and CFO Kim Williams.
In a memo addressed to “WarnerMedia Colleagues” Stankey explained why they ‘ve gone this route, how the studio will handle the day-to-day running as well as finding a successor.
“We are doing this to ensure minimal description to the day-to-day operations of the studio and to provide the time we need to conduct a thorough search to find the best candidate to lead this incredible and storied business to its next chapter of growth and success.”
As for who will in the interim be overseeing what, Stankey addressed this subject as well. Emmerich will handle the theatrical business, home entertainment and randomly games. Roth will run all television production as well as new kids and young adults group and finally will keep an eye on all other areas at the studio, including Otter Media.
Stankey praised his interim team, “It goes without saying that our ability to tap into leaders of the calibre of Toby, Peter and Kim to continue our momentum without missing a beat is a testament to the talent we have across all of our companies.
“It also underscores the values, team orientation and spirit of collaboration that each of these executives exemplifies, and I thank them all for stepping up and leading by example” the WarnerMedia CEO adds.
There’s no word as to how quick Stankey will be working to find a full-time replacement for Tsujihara but it’s no surprise Emmerich will be handling all the movie side of things after the 2018 he had at the studio and it’s understandable to have a veteran from the TV operations to handle things small screen.
Additionally, with Williams as the Chief Financial Officer handle all the other sides of the company.
As for the new boss it’s heavily rumoured Stacey Snider, the former CEO and chair of 20th Century Fox, could be the front runner but despite her long CV that includes being head of Universal and Dreamworks, she has limited experience handling film slates but how hard can that be?
However, it’s widely thought the studio will hire a woman to take the top role. Which is why Amy Pascal can’t be ruled out and the same can be said of promoting from within with New Line Cinema’s Chief Content Officer Carolyn Blackwood has a similar setback to Snider when working with movie slates, but is great at working relationships especially the New Zealand government during the production of The Hobbit.
One final name is another outside of the studio to breathe new life is Margie Cohn, who oversees all the TV development and production for Dreamworks Animation. The reason why she could be looked out as she works with Netflix after signing a multi-year deal and with WarnerMedia wanting to start their own streaming service this could be a boost to her chances.
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