Melissa Harper & Richter Hartig Named STARZ SVPs, Original Programming Production

Melissa Harper and Richter Hartig were elevated to Senior Vice Presidents in original programming production at Starz announced Carmi Zlotnik, Managing Director for Starz.

Harper, Senior Vice President of Production, Original Programming Production and Hartig, Senior Vice President, Original Programming Production Finance, are instrumental in the dramatic increase in original programming production at the company over the past few years and have expanded responsibilities as the volume of Starz Original series continues to grow. Each served in similar capacities at the Vice president levels before the recent promotions.

"Melissa and Richter have accomplished a great deal as the volume and complexity of our projects has increased," said Zlotnik. "Melissa has become a recognized leader in domestic and international production. She has a keen eye for details and nuances when it comes to production and her expertise has grown to include sophisticated production planning, VFX and stunts. Richter does equally important work for us as a financial whiz, managing domestic and international tax incentives and currency exchange rates valuation analytics to ensure we stay within our budgetary parameters. He is a trusted leader on my team in working with the senior Finance group."

Harper's recent production work has taken her to New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium, Wales/UK, Canada, and the U.S. Harper has provided oversight for the production and delivery of recent series such as "Boss," "Spartacus," "Magic City," "Da Vinci's Demons," "The White Queen," and the upcoming Starz Original series "Black Sails," "Power," and "Outlander."

Harper joined Starz in 2006 as part of the IDT Entertainment acquisition and subsequent creation of Starz Media, where she was part of the live action department providing production support and management on a slate of movies and series for other networks including the Syfy, Lifetime, and IFC. Harper went on to produce features for Starz' Home Entertainment division, Anchor Bay Films. Shifting to focus strictly on Starz Original series, Harper became the Production Executive for two seasons of the Starz Original Series, "Party Down," before becoming Vice President of Production in 2011. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Hartig also joined Starz in 2006 upon the creation of Starz Media. He has served in various programming business roles at Starz, acting as a nexus between TV production and corporate/finance. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.

About Starz
Starz (STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television channels (Starz Networks), global content distribution (Starz Distribution) and animated television and movie production (Starz Animation), www.starz.com.

Starz Networks is a leading provider of premium subscription video programming through the flagship Starz and ENCORE pay TV networks which showcase premium original programming and movies to U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies. As of June 30, 2013, Starz and ENCORE serve a combined 56.9 million subscribers, including 21.8 million at STARZ, and 35.1 million at ENCORE, making them the largest pair of premium flagship channels in the U.S. Starz and

ENCORE, along with Starz Networks' third network MOVIEPLEX, air more than 1,000 movies monthly across 17 linear networks, complemented by On Demand and authenticated online offerings through Starz PLAY, ENCORE PLAY, and MOVIEPLEX PLAY. Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires entertainment content, distributing it to consumers globally on DVD, digital formats and traditional television. Starz Distribution's home video, digital media and worldwide distribution business units distribute original programming content produced by Starz, as well as entertainment content for itself and third parties. Starz Animation produces animated TV and movie content for studios, networks, distributors and audiences worldwide.

Contact:

Eric Becker
Starz
(720) 852-4065
eric.becker@starz.com

SOURCE Starz

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