EXCLUSIVE: Former Netflix executive Janice Lee has joined Fifth Season as vice president of film development and production, with longtime team member Kara Duncan promoted to the same role. The news comes as the global film and television studio, formerly known as Endeavor Content, begins the year with four films coming to theaters after Sundance and two more soon.
As members of the team led by EVP, Film Development and Production, Alexis Garcia, Lee and Duncan will be responsible for growing the studio’s slate of indie and big budget films with top distribution talent filmed via streaming platforms and theaters. . The pair will report to SVPs, film development and production, Dan Guando and Negeen Yazdi.
After the great success at Sundance 2022 with Cha Cha really smooth, the winner of the Cooper Raiff Audience Award that went to Apple in the festival’s largest auction, Fifth Season, returns to Utah with two feature film premieres and two documentary film premieres in the US competition. The narrative titles are the psychological thriller Eileenwith Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway and the Dublin-centric musical flora and son, directed by Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Festival graduate John Carney (sing street) wrote and directed the latter title while William Oldroyd directed the former, based on Otessa Moshfegh’s bestseller, from his and Luke Goebel’s screenplay.
The first Sundance documentary of season five directed by Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn is Go to college in Mariachiexplore the premier high school mariachi in South Texas. The other, directed by Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto, is Aum: The Sect at the End of the Worldwhich chronicles the events surrounding a doomsday cult’s deadly attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1996.
The studio’s next films are the multi-generational romantic comedy perhapsthe directorial debut of Michael Jacobs and the ensemble comedy 80 for Brady, directed by Kyle Marvin. The previous title – starring Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, William H. Macy, Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey – will be released on January 27 by Vertical Entertainment. The latter produced Fifth Season with Paramount Pictures which is based on a true story. It stars Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Tom Brady and will hit theaters nationwide on February 3rd.
Announcing the latest developments in the fifth season’s leadership ranks, SVPs, film development and production, Guando and Yazdi told Deadline: “As we explore the types of stories we want to tell, films we want to make and the creators we look forward to working together and Janice and Kara’s passion for developing all types of films for global audiences is a great addition to the team.”
Lee most recently served as the Creative Executive for Netflix’s Original Independent Film division. During her time at the streamer, she oversaw a variety of films for global audiences in 190 countries around the world, including the recently released Lili Reinhart rom-com Look in both directionsthe terror No one gets out alive from The Imaginarium by Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish, the dark drama by Antonio Campos Always the devilthe YA franchise The pillow caseand the upcoming YA sci-fi movie Ugly, based on the novel by Scott Westerfeld directed by Joey King and starring McG.
Before Netflix, Lee was an executive at eOne/Sierra-Affinity that backed the films Atomic blonde and how it ends. She began her career in the mailroom at ICM before joining Imagine where she helped with development Genius: Einstein for National Geographic.
Duncan joined Endeavor Content in 2018 as a creative executive, most recently as director, film development and production. She is currently developing projects with filmmakers such as Brett Haley, Rob Savage, Ed Berger, Philip Barantini, Oliver Hermanus, Elizabeth Chomko, Josephine Decker, Damon Thomas, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Luke Snellin and Joe Penna and began her career as an assistant director . at WME after graduating from USC.
Recent credits from season five include multiple Oscar nominations from Maggie Gyllenhaal The Lost Daughter on Netflix, as well as the above Cha Cha really smooth on Apple TV+ and Horror My best friend’s exorcism on Amazon. Studio credits on the TV site include dismissal, See and To be honest for AppleTV+, wolves like me for peacock, life & bed, Nine total strangers and McCartney 3, 2, 1 for hulu, Vices of Tokyo for HBO Max and Scenes from a wedding for HBO.
Bill Holderman’s director is also on the film side for the fifth season Book Club 2: The Next Chapterstarring Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen, to be published by Focus Features on May 12.
Writer: Matt Grobar
Source: Deadline
Bernice Bonaparte is an author and entertainment journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for pop culture and a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest entertainment news, Bernice has become a trusted source for information on the entertainment industry.
