A big shakeup in the PR world: Warner Bros.’ EVP of Communications Katie Martin Kelley is jumping ship to Netflix, where she’ll serve as VP of Communications under film chief Dan Lin.
Kelley will report to Netflix’s Chief Communications Officer Dani Dudeck and starts on Sept. 8.
“I’m excited to welcome Katie to Netflix as our VP of Communications, Film. She brings more than 20 years of experience from some of the world’s most renowned studios, where she’s worked with some of the industry’s most celebrated storytellers. I look forward to partnering with her as we support Netflix’s ambitious global film slate,” said Dudeck in statement.
Amid the unknown future of the Paramount/Warner Bros. merger, Martin Kelly follows Pia Barlow, EVP Originals Marketing for HBO Max, who decamped for Amazon MGM Studios as VP of Series Marketing. Her defection resulted in a lawsuit from Warner Bros., who claimed that Amazon poached contracted employees to breach their employment agreements” across multiple WBD subsidiaries.
Martin Kelley joins Dudeck’s global comms leadership team which currently includes Kelly Pakula (VP Global Corp Comms), Oliver Rawlins (VP Comms, EMEA), Flávia Vigio (VP Comms, LATAM) and Joy Albert (VP Comms, APAC).
Among the big Netflix feature titles are David Fincher’s still-untitled (and still-unfinished, according to reports) follow-up to Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” with Brad Pitt reprising his Oscar-winning role of Cliff Booth; Cannes breakout “La Bola Negra,” which will get an expanded theatrical run; Brad Bird’s long-awaited sci-fi noir “Ray Gunn”; hot-button thriller “Gentle Monster,” which was also at Cannes; and Ben Affleck’s star-studded thriller “Animals.” All are due out later this year.
While at Warner Bros., Martin Kelly led corporate communications and media relations for Warner Bros. Pictures, along with shingles New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation (whose inaugural feature, “The Cat in the Hat,” is due out later this year) and their new indie-ish label Clockwork (whose first movie, a re-release of Ken Russell’s “The Devils,” arrives in October).
Before Warner Bros., Martin Kelly was at MGM Studios before they were acquired by Amazon, where she worked with Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. Earlier in her career, she was at Paramount for 12 years.
