Imagine Entertainment Elevates Justin Wilkes to President

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Wilkes, Imagine Entertainment’s chief strategy officer and president of Imagine Documentary and Brands, has been promoted to president of the company, which is led by executive chairman Brian Grazer and Ron Howard.

After Wilkes’ promotion, Sara Bernstein, co-president of the documentary division, was appointed head of the documentary division.

In his new role, Wilkes will work closely with Imagine COO Steve Shikiya, President of Features Karen Lunder, President of Television Kristen Zolner, Bernstein, President of Documentaries, Marc Gilbar, EVP of Brands, and Brooke Posch, President of Jax Media. wholly owned subsidiary of Imagine Entertainment. He will continue to work with Alex Gibney and the Jigsaw Productions team.

Wilkes replaces Jax Media’s Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns, who left this month after a year as presidents of Imagine Entertainment.

The departure of the duo, who left both Imagine and Jax (where Hernandez was CEO and Burns was CCO) to start a new company together, followed Imagine’s move to purchase Jax’s remaining 49% during the cancel holiday season.

Wilkes, an Oscar-nominated and multi-Emmy-winning producer who co-founded the Imagine Documentaries label with Bernstein in 2018, has assumed increasing leadership responsibilities within the parent company. Strategic Employee.

Over the past four years, Imagine Documentaries has built a presence in the premium unscripted business, with a slate that has received 14 Emmy nominations in the past year alone. Wilkes recently produced the award-winning Imagine docs, Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues for AppleTV+ and The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari, It was a game changer for Netflix this holiday season, only to come in second on the streamer’s weekly worldwide movie chart Glass Onion: A Mystery of Blades.

“Justin is a rare leader who excels in both the business and creative endeavors of the company. He has a clear direction for expanding potential and growth and has proven to be a strong producer and creative collaborator with the most visionary talent in our industry,” said Grazer and Howard. “We are delighted to have him working with us and across all Imagine departments to maximize opportunities that align with the ethos we started with when we started Imagine nearly 40 years ago, which has always been to tell culturally resonant stories that matter. .”

In 2022, Imagine released 37 films and series across its divisions and subsidiaries, including Thirteen lives (Amazon), Under the banner of heaven (FX), Lucie and Desi (Amazon), Jax Media Emily in Paris (Netflix) and Jigsaw Productions” How to change your mind.

Upcoming projects include the documentaries Personality crisis: one night only by Martin Scorsese and Bono & The Edge: A Homecoming of Kinds with Dave LettermanIn the future The hat bubbles with Zach Galifianakis (AppleTV+) and the next installment in the anthology series Brilliant: MLK/X (Disney+).

“Together with Brian and Ron, we have the opportunity to realize the full potential of the Imagine brand as a strong, independent, talent-friendly content studio with a premium pedigree in the market,” said Wilkes. “In the storm of industry-wide disruption, we will focus on our core businesses and position ourselves as an incubator of talent, intellectual property and creativity.”