Speaker Sandra Stern
You are not currently viewing the most recent Banff World Media Festival. Go to Banff World Media Festival 2024.
Sandra Stern is Vice Chairman of the Lionsgate Television Group, serving as a key member of the Company’s senior management team for nearly 20 years and helping to guide Lionsgate’s television business to record-breaking revenue growth during nearly every year of her tenure. She has been instrumental in growing the size and diversification of the studio’s television slate, positioning Lionsgate Television as a leading supplier of premium content to streaming, broadcast and cable services with dozens of series on a wide array of networks and platforms.
Lionsgate Television is producing a robust slate of nearly 20 premium scripted series this year, including several shows from its December 2023 acquisition of global entertainment platform eOne. Twelve of these series are already in their third seasons or later, including The Rookie, recently renewed for a seventh season on ABC, the half-hour comedy Ghosts, one of the top series on broadcast television renewed for a fourth season at CBS, and the hit drama Power Book III: Raising Kanan picked up for a fifth season by STARZ. Upcoming series include Seth Rogen’s half-hour comedy The Studio for Apple TV+, as well as the thriller The Hunting Wives and the highly anticipated Spartacus: House of Ashur for STARZ.
One of the industry’s consummate dealmakers, Stern has innovated ground-breaking linear and streaming platform deals for iconic Lionsgate series including Mad Men (AMC), Weeds (Showtime) and Orange is the New Black (Netflix). She paved the way for Mythic Quest and Love Life to launch on streamers Apple TV+ and HBO Max, respectively, and she has created business models enabling Lionsgate to strengthen its ties with broadcast networks.
Stern played a key role in Lionsgate’s acquisition of global entertainment platform eOne and was instrumental in the Company’s majority investment in leading talent management & production company 3 Arts Entertainment. The Company’s successful collaboration with 3 Arts, which has resulted in four current & upcoming series, also served as the template for its investment in the U.K. talent management & production company 42 as the studio continues to scale its global talent business. She also negotiated a first-look television deal as part of the studio’s partnership with Spyglass Media Group.
Stern began her career in the Columbia Pictures Television legal department, followed by a stint with the law firm Bloom, Hergott, Cook, Diemer & Klein LLP. She headed business affairs and international development at New World Entertainment, where she met Jon Feltheimer, and has worked with him for over 30 years, first at New World, then Columbia TriStar Television and most recently at Lionsgate.
A graduate of UCLA Law School, Stern is a founding member of their LEAD program and serves on the Board of the Law School’s Ziffren Center, where she also teaches. She is on the Board of the Saban Clinic, The UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center, and Center Theatre Group, and is active in the Rape Treatment Center and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, who honored her with its Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2015. She also received the I Had a Dream Foundation Los Angeles’ Humanitarian Award.