AMC Studios

AMC NETWORKS APPOINTS TWO KEY EXECUTIVES TO ITS AMC STUDIOS OPERATION

VALERIE CABRERA JOINS AS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF DISTRIBUTION 

MELISSA BEAR LANDAU NAMED SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS 

NEW YORK, NY – December 1, 2015 – AMC Networks today announced two key appointments to its AMC Studios operation: Valerie Cabrera has joined as senior vice president of distribution, while Melissa Landau (née Bear) has been named senior vice president of business affairs. Cabrera is based in Los Angeles, and Landau is based in New York, and both report to Rick Olshansky, co-head of AMC Studios and executive vice president of business affairs for AMC Networks.

As senior vice president of distribution, Cabrera oversees all off-network distribution efforts of owned programming on behalf of AMC, BBC AMERICA, SundanceTV, IFC and WE tv. She will lead and execute the company’s content distribution strategy in domestic and international territories across all forms of linear, non-linear and digital television distribution.

In her role as senior vice president of business affairs, Landau negotiates agreements around original programming, productions, acquisitions and development, as well as licensing agreements with studio partners and related activities, for AMC Studios, focusing primarily on BBC AMERICA, IFC and SundanceTV.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Valerie and Melissa, two incredibly accomplished executives, to the AMC Studios team,” said Olshansky. “As we continue to grow our in-house studio operation and develop wholly owned programming, Melissa will play an integral role in navigating these deals and building our slates at BBC AMERICA, IFC and SundanceTV. Valerie will work across all of our networks, making sure the value of our content is being maximized and that our programming is being seen on multiple platforms around the world. Both Melissa and Valerie are experts in their respective fields, and each has a stellar track record of delivering results. We are very happy to have them on board.”

About Valerie Cabrera

Prior to her role at AMC Studios, Cabrera was executive vice president of TV International for Entertainment One in Los Angeles, where she led the company’s international content distribution initiatives since 2009. Before that, Cabrera was executive vice president at Oasis International in Toronto from 1993 to 2009 and helped launch the company’s international distribution division. She received her Honors Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto, and holds certificates in Italian language and culture from University of Siena Italy and in Spanish language and culture from University of Granada Spain. She is fluent in French, Spanish and Italian.

About Melissa Landau (née Bear)

Before joining AMC Networks, Landau held several business affairs roles within the media and entertainment industry. Beginning in 2002, she served in a series of business and legal affairs roles at Viacom, most recently as senior vice president of business affairs and deputy general counsel for Comedy Central and TV Land. Before that, she worked in business and legal affairs for Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1. Prior to her time at Viacom, Landau worked in business affairs at Columbia TriStar Television and Viacom Productions Inc. Landau earned her Juris Doctorate from Whittier College School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from Tulane University, Newcomb College.

About AMC Studios

AMC Studios is the in-house studio and production operation for AMC Networks Inc., which owns and operates the AMC, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv and BBC America television networks.  AMC Studios’ first series was “The Walking Dead,” which is the highest-rated basic cable program in the history of television and has been the #1 show on television among adults 18-49 for the past three years. Since then, AMC Studios has produced several critically acclaimed, award-winning and culturally distinctive series, including AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead,” which delivered the highest-rated first season in the history of cable television, “TURN: Washington’s Spies,” “Halt and Catch Fire” and “Into the Badlands,” and for SundanceTV, the Peabody Award-winning “Rectify” and forthcoming “Hap and Leonard.”

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