Rolin Jones (“Friday Night Lights,” “Weeds”), Gina Mingacci (“Killing Eve,” “Orphan Black”) and Ray McKinnon (“Rectify,” “Deadwood”) have each signed separate multiyear overall deals with AMC Studios, the studio announced Thursday.
Under their respective pacts, Jones, Mingacci and McKinnon will develop and produce new series for AMC Networks’ Entertainment Group, as well as other content companies. These deals expand AMC Networks’ ongoing or previous creative partnerships with each of the producers.
“Our writers and producers are the center of everything we do and achieve, and I could not be happier to welcome (back) this massively talented triumvirate to AMC Networks,” Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks’ Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, said in a statement. “Rolin, Gina and Ray are exceptional. I look forward to making incredible television with these brilliant humans, all of whom are incapable of doing anything that isn’t something special.”
“If AMC was a body part, they’d be Carlos Vela’s left foot,” Jones said in his own statement. “For the next two years I hope to be their sock, shin guard, and cleat. Grateful and excited to be in servitude to the excellent team they’ve assembled.”
“Sarah and her team are some of the gutsiest, most creatively driven and passionate execs out there and they are never afraid to take risks, especially with fresh voices and emerging talent,” Mingacci added. “I feel lucky to continue my relationship with them in this new, exciting way.”
“As it is a little late for me to realistically consider a career change, I am beyond excited (just below manic) to be getting back into the ‘making up stuff’ business with Sarah Barnett and all the folks at AMC,” McKinnon said. “They embraced my particular slant once before with ‘Rectify’ which played no small part in my decision (and hopefully theirs) to have another go. It’s near impossible to collaborate with someone who doesn’t really get what you’re going for. Sarah did and does and that’s hard to put a value on. I feel very fortunate. Given the times we’re in, it is hard not to be moved, inspired, and appalled into picking up the pen again. I can only hope for a full well.”
See Jones’ bio below, courtesy of AMC:
Jones was the co-creator/showrunner of HBO’s upcoming “Perry Mason” and the season one executive producer/showrunner of “The Exorcist” for Fox. He has written and produced for “Friday Night Lights,” “Weeds” and “Boardwalk Empire.” His “Friday Night Lights” episode, “The Son,” received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and was named by Time magazine as the best episode of television for the year 2010. His award-winning musical collaboration with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, “These Paper Bullets!,” received its 2014 world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre and was later produced at the Geffen Playhouse and Atlantic Theater Company. His play “The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow” received the OBIE Award for Excellence in Playwriting and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. He is the co-founder of New Neighborhood, a multi-discipline arts collective that has commissioned, developed and produced award-winning television, theater, music, film and dance work. His new production shingle, Dwight Street Book Club, a television, podcasting and beautifications company, is currently producing the podcast “Ask Ronna with Ronna (& Bryan)” and the upcoming interactive dining experience “Feast: Every Year I Grow Again.”
You can find Mingacci’s credits here:
Mingacci joined Sid Gentle Films Ltd. as executive producer in June 2018, where she works across Sid’s television and film slate and currently serves as executive producer on seasons two, three and four of the Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-nominated “Killing Eve.” Prior to joining Sid Gentle Films Ltd., Mingacci was BBC America’s senior vice president, scripted programming, where she oversaw a development team and slate of both domestic and international drama series. Notable among her projects there are the final two seasons of Emmy Award-winning series “Orphan Black,” and the critically-acclaimed first season of “Killing Eve,” written and executive produced by BAFTA award- winner Phoebe Waller-Bridge and starring Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. Before joining BBCA, Mingacci was the head of scripted television at Superb Entertainment, where she developed and sold both comedy and drama scripted series to HBO, Fox, Media Rights Capital, Lifetime and Lionsgate. A graduate of New York University’s prestigious Cinema Studies program, she began her career in the publicity department at TriStar Pictures in New York before becoming a development executive at Woods Entertainment/Miramax Films where she worked on such notable films as “Beautiful Girls,” “Citizen Ruth,” “Copland,” “Kids,” “Scream” and “Swingers.” As president of production at New York-based Independent Pictures, she oversaw the development and production of a slate of films including Harmony Korine’s “Gummo” and “Julien Donkey Boy” starring filmmaker Werner Herzog as well as “The Prime Gig” starring Vince Vaughn and Ed Harris. She also worked with acclaimed filmmakers such as Academy Award winner Alexander Payne, Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, cult photographer Larry Clark and Tony Award winner Gregory Mosher.
And McKinnon’s here:
For McKinnon, “storyteller” is probably the most apt moniker for this actor, writer, director, producer and retired carpet cleaner. Perhaps most notably he is known for creating and showrunning SundanceTV’s critically acclaimed “Rectify,” which received a Peabody Award in 2015, landed two Critics Choice TV Award nominations in 2015 and 2016, and has been on many of its decade’s “Top Ten Best Show’s” and “Best Of” lists. As a filmmaker, McKinnon’s debut, “The Accountant,” won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2002, which he wrote, directed, and played the titular role, in collaboration with Lisa Blount and Walton Goggins. Their next film (a feature), “Chrystal,” starred all three along with Billy Bob Thornton, and was written and directed by McKinnon. It was selected for Sundance Film Festival’s prestigious Dramatic Film Competition in 2004. In 2009, McKinnon produced and acted in “That Evening Sun,” which garnered him an Independent Spirit Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role opposite Hal Holbrook. As an actor, McKinnon has accumulated an array of (arguably) unforgettable and offbeat characters. His impressive film resume includes James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari” (opposite Matt Damon and Christian Bale), “Mud,” “Footloose,” “Take Shelter,” “The Blind Side,” “O Brother, Where Out Thou,” “Apollo 13” and “Bugsy.” His soon-to-be-released movies are Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World” starring Tom Hanks and Doug Liman’s “Chaos Walking.” In TV he’s known for roles on the award-winning HBO series “Deadwood” as Reverend H.W. Smith and FX’s critically acclaimed “Sons of Anarchy,” “Mayans M.C.,” and “Fear the Walking Dead.” He has also appeared in multiple series ranging from “NYPD Blue,” “The X-Files,” “Matlock,” as well as having an old film clip on “Jeopardy.”
Jones is represented by Tara Kole of Gang, Tyre, Ramer, & Brown, Inc and Larry Shuman of the Shuman Company.