As Skydance firms up its leadership teams following the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, several key TV executives will depart the DTC team.
Those executives include Dan Barnes, Michael Bishara, Jamie Cooke, Domenic DiMeglio, Marco Nobili, Pank Patel and Juan Sola, Skydance TV Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer JB Perrette announced in a Thursday memo to staff.
The exits come from a realignment of staff as Perrette aims to bridge direct-to-consumer and TV, a shift that will see some leaders more dedicated to TV while others focus on DTC. “The industry and consumer behavior continue to evolve at a fast pace, and these two businesses have more cross-over and interconnections than ever,” Perrette said. “We need to aggressively drive each business forward, while also being attentive to maximize the strategic and financial opportunities between the two.”
One role that is vacant is the head of Pluto TV/AVOD, which Perrette notes is a “big and important business for us and deserves dedicated leadership to help drive it day in and day out.” Perrette revealed a search would be conducted with internal and external candidates.
Perrette’s team includes Skydance DTC EVP and head of communications Jeff Cusson, who will lead comms strategy for the streaming services with a shared reporting line to Perrette, Casey Bloys and Melissa Zukerman.
Shauna Spenley will serve as CMO of Global DTC and International TV, expanding her oversight to include marketing of International TV. Spenley will absorb Sola’s and DiMeglio’s team.
Additionally, Trey Turner will take on the new role of COO of International, reporting to Perrette, and will over see Patel’s strategy team as well as Louis Goldstein, Vanessa Brookman, Lee Hobbs and Myriam Lopez-Otazu.
Josh Walker will also have a dual role of COO, DTC, reporting to Perrette and supporting Bloys, and of CFO, DTC, reporting into Skydance CFO Dennis Cinelli. Most of Bishara’s team as well as Rodrigo Mazon will move under Walker. Likewise, Liz Wright has been named as CFO of Skydance’s TV segment.
The news comes just a day after Skydance TV Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer George Cheeks locked in his leadership team, which will see Warner Bros. Television Group Head Channing Dungey continue in her role as Matt Thunell continues to oversee Paramount Television Studios. Likewise, David Stapf and Amy Reisenbach will continue to lead CBS Studios and CBS Entertainment.
