Janet Brown

President, Content Distribution, North America & LatAm
BBC Studios Americas Inc.

As President of Content Distribution, Janet Brown is charged with creating a vision and setting strategic direction to drive continued growth across BBC Studios diversified commercial business in North America and Latin America. She oversees all aspects of the content distribution business, as well as leading the company’s global distribution relationships with the top U.S.-based partners, including networks and streaming platforms, and developing innovative new business solutions to deliver growth.

Brown was most recently the EVP of Global Distribution and Commercial Operations at Gunpowder & Sky, an independent studio. G&S produces original scripted features, unscripted series, documentaries and podcasts across all leading services including HBO, Netflix, MTV, Hulu, Sky, Showtime, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, Audible, and Discovery.

Brown joined Gunpowder & Sky in 2016, when she negotiated the sale of Cinetic Rights Management/FilmBuff to the company. As EVP of Global Distribution and Commercial Operations at Gunpowder, Brown led sales, marketing, and distribution for the studio on original, co-produced and acquired titles. Brown also oversaw the commercial growth and expansion of Gunpowder’s premium genre D2C brands, DUST (sci-fi) and ALTER (horror), across all touchpoints including social and FAST channels, and managed the studio’s audio division which produces a range of unscripted and scripted series.

Previously, Brown had established FilmBuff as a one-stop shop for a wide range of content providers by handling worldwide distribution of over 1500 critically acclaimed titles, including theatrical, digital, linear television, international sales, and festival strategy. She grew the distribution company from a start-up to an established industry player, ultimately leading the sale of the company to Gunpowder & Sky.

Prior to FilmBuff, she was a strategy consultant for Yahoo! Media Group and headed up research at independent film sales agent Cinetic Media in New York. Brown also was part of the media and entertainment strategy consulting practice at Accenture in London where she drove business strategy for clients including News Corp., Warner Music, Film Four, Telewest, and Granada.

A native of Toronto, Janet received a B.A. Joint Honors in economics and political science from McGill University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Speaking at: Banff World Media Festival