Ava DuVernay has promoted her longtime producing partner Paul Garnes to president of Array Filmworks.
Array Filmworks is the content side of DuVernay’s Array, the multiplatform arts and social impact collective. Garnes had most recently served as head of physical production.
Garnes replaces Sarah Bremner, who is leaving to take a personal hiatus. “Sarah is a thoughtful executive who has built a wonderful creative development team here and is respected by our showrunners and artists. I’m grateful for her time at Array, look forward to continuing our friendship and wish her good health and happiness always,” DuVernay said.
Since joining the company in March 2020, Garnes has overseen Array productions of the upcoming Netflix limited series “Colin in Black and White,” the upcoming HBO Max limited series “DMZ,” the successful pilot for DC Comics’ “Naomi” on The CW, as well as the series “Cherish The Day,” “Home Sweet Home” and “One Perfect Shot.”
Since 2014, he has overseen production of DuVernay’s first television series, “Queen Sugar,” which is now in its sixth season.
“Paul has been my true and trusted partner for the past decade, the one who takes my dreams off the page and makes them a reality on the set and beyond. He’s simply the best at what he does and the way that he does it – with warmth and wisdom, gusto and grace,” DuVernay said. “It brings me great joy to work even more closely with Paul as he leads Array Filmworks into a new era with our stellar team.”
“I first met Ava when she was a film publicist in the 90s, which led to me producing one of her early features on a shoestring budget,” Garnes said. “Since Day 1, we have had a creative and collaborative partnership that I treasure. I look forward to expanding our work together and continuing to produce stories with meaning and mission under Ava’s incredible vision.”