CNN FILMS Hires Courtney Sexton in Los Angeles

CNN FILMS is pleased to welcome Courtney Sexton, who joins the Los Angeles team as senior director, reporting to Vinnie Malhotra, senior vice president, development and acquisitions for CNN Worldwide.

For the past eight years, Sexton worked with Participant Media, where she managed feature documentaries—such as the Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth and the Emmy-winning Food, Inc.—from development to release.  Other titles Sexton shepherded include Waiting for Superman, Standard Operating Procedure, Jimmy Carter Man from Plains, Last Call at the Oasis, Countdown to Zero and Darfur Now, amongst others.

Prior to joining Participant Media, Sexton worked for two years with filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) on the HBO series Deadwood, as well as other TV pilots.  Before that, she worked in television and feature film production—beginning with the FX series The Shield—while also contributing to documentaries such as The Smith Family and Brother Outsider:  The Life of Bayard Rustin.

“We’re thrilled to have a film executive with Courtney’s experience and talent join CNN Films,” Malhotra says. “Her extensive background in story crafting, and her ability to build strong relationships with filmmakers, will be a major asset to us as we take CNN Films forward.”

About CNN Films

CNN Films brings documentaries beyond the small screen by developing strategic partnerships to leverage distribution opportunities at film festivals and in theaters.  Amy Entelis, senior vice president of talent and content development for CNN Worldwide, and Vinnie Malhotra, senior vice president of development and acquisitions for CNN Worldwide, oversee the acquisition strategy of documentaries for CNN Films.  Malhotra manages the day-to-day operations of CNN Films, and works directly with filmmakers to develop original projects.

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