Warner Premiere Unveils Core Executive Team, Announcing Senior Executives In Production, Marketing, Business Affairs And Acquisitions

(December 18, 2006 – Burbank, CA) – Warner Premiere, the recently launched direct-to-DVD and direct-to-platform production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, has named its senior executive staff, announcing Irika Slavin as Senior Vice President, Marketing; Geoff Shaevitz as Vice President, Production; Sean Wimmer as Vice President, Post Production; Stephanie Schroeder as Vice President, Business Affairs; and Eva Davis as Vice President, Acquisitions. These appointments were announced today by Diane Nelson, President, Warner Premiere. Founded in August 2006, Warner Premiere’s mandate is to position Warner Bros. at the forefront of original feature-length content created specifically for DVD, as well as new and emerging digital platforms, drawing on the company’s unmatched resources and long-standing relationships in the creative and production arenas. “Starting a new business unit can be daunting, but I could not have a better executive team in place for this undertaking,” said Nelson. “Since our operation combines elements of traditional production, distribution and marketing with a new and constantly evolving business model, we sought executives at the top of their game, with the versatility to break new ground, push the envelope and truly establish Warner Premiere as the leader in direct-to-DVD and emerging platform space. Irika, Geoff, Sean, Stephanie and Eva each bring a unique skill set to their new posts as well as a shared enthusiasm and forward-focused outlook that will serve us well.” In order to quickly establish a presence in this rapidly expanding marketplace, Warner Premiere will focus on releases that are either sequels or prequels to existing titles or brands in the Warner Bros. library; that expand the storyline of projects currently in production at the Studio; or that leverage an established creator, talent, character or brand equity, which may or may not be from the Warner Bros. library. As Senior Vice President of Marketing, Irika Slavin will work closely with filmmakers, creative executives, vendors and in-place Warner Home Video marketing and sales teams to devise publicity, promotional and online campaigns to best position Warner Premiere titles in the marketplace. Prior to joining Warner Premiere, Slavin served as Vice President, Global Brand Management at the Studio, where she was responsible for managing the “Batman Begins,” “V for Vendetta” and “The Ant Bully” properties as well as the Studio’s re-branding efforts for DC Comics (a Warner Bros. Entertainment company) and the introduction of that company’s new logo. Prior to that, she served as Director, Theatrical Marketing at Warner Bros. Pictures, responsible for managing the company’s cross-divisional efforts for both “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions”; she also was a senior publicist before her promotion to director. Slavin has also held publicity positions at Fine Line Features and DreamWorks and worked for HBO’s Go Flight Productions. Starting her professional career at the Disney Institute in Orlando, Slavin holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass media from Rutgers University. In his new post as Vice President of Production, Geoff Shaevitz’ mandate is to build a long-term creative strategy and a slate of original releases for Warner Premiere, overseeing projects from script to screen. Shaevitz was previously a production executive at Warner Bros. Pictures, serving as the project manager on such films as “We Are Marshall,” “Zodiac,” “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Batman Begins.” Prior to joining the Studio, he served as a vice president at Eaglecove Entertainment and worked was a creative executive at Riche/Ludwig Productions. Shaevitz is a graduate of Stanford University and obtained his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School. Serving as Vice President of Post Production, Sean Wimmer will oversee all aspects of post on projects produced by Warner Premiere. Previously, Wimmer worked at Warner Bros. Pictures as Director of Feature Post Production, working on such films as “Good Night, and Good Luck.”; “A Scanner Darkly”; and “March of the Penguins.” Prior to that, he was a freelance post production supervisor for various production companies and studios, overseeing such projects as “Being John Malkovich,” “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys,” “K-19: The Widowmaker,” “Catwoman” and “The Weight of Water” (on which he was also a co-producer). Wimmer began his studio career as a post production coordinator at 20th Century Fox Features. Stephanie Schroeder serves as Vice President, Business Affairs, responsible for structuring and negotiating all talent, production and financial agreements for Warner Premiere. Schroeder joins the company from Paramount Pictures, where she was Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs and helped build that company’s DVD production group working on such titles as “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” and “Save the Last Dance 2.” She also worked in Paramount’s motion picture legal department and has held various business and legal affairs positions at Warner Bros. Entertainment, Paramount Network Television, Jim Henson Pictures, Morgan Creek Productions and Wilshire Court Productions. Schroeder is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and obtained her juris doctor from the University of Southern California Law Center. As Vice President, Acquisitions, Eva Davis is responsible for identifying previously produced content suited for release to the direct-to-DVD marketplace by Warner Premiere. Davis joins Warner Premiere from Warner Home Video, where, as Vice President Acquisitions and Multicultural Marketing, she was responsible for starting a new ethnic marketing division, which not only acquired video content targeted at diverse consumers, but also executed multicultural marketing for Warner Home Video’s mainstream releases. Davis will retain her multicultural marketing responsibilities for WHV (reporting to Jeff Baker, Senior Vice President, Theatrical Catalog), and select projects with which she was involved at that company will remain under her aegis at Warner Premiere, including “non-theatrical” acquisitions for a sports league and several animated franchises. Davis has more than 15 years of experience in consumer products marketing and joined the Studio from Coca-Cola, where she led marketing and business planning teams for the Western U.S. She earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University. # # #