Alison Hoffman has been promoted to president, domestic networks, at premium pay platform Starz, a Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) company. Hoffman previously served as the network’s chief marketing officer spearheading its brand and content marketing, driving acquisitions for the Starz app and delivering data-driven insights that support all facets of the business. In her newly expanded role, she will oversee domestic network operations including all aspects of marketing and promotion, product development, distribution, analytics and program operations.
“Alison is a proven and strategic leader in our organization whose talents lie in both the creative and analytical sides of the business. This new role will bring all of the domestic focused functions under one leader and allow her to exercise all of her strengths,” said Jeffrey Hirsch, president and CEO of Starz.
Hoffman was one of the key executives responsible for launching the Starz app and managing the network’s direct-to-consumer business. Over the past year, Hoffman has led Starz’s efforts to build its streaming business, delivering 70% growth year-over-year domestically and outpacing several key competitors. She has worked closely with partners including Amazon, Hulu and Apple to successfully launch Starz on new platforms while continuing to build the Starz brand as a premium streaming content platform appealing to female audiences around the world.
During her tenure, Hoffman launched a master brand strategy for Starz, repositioning the network as a home for acclaimed and diverse original programming. She’s led campaigns for the entire Starz Originals slate, including Power, Outlander, Vida and American Gods enabling Starz to compete for and retain subscribers in an increasingly competitive and fragmented television landscape. In the past year, Hoffman assumed oversight of program operations and built a world-class acquisition marketing and insights & analytics departments for Starz from the ground up.
She joined Starz in 2012 after serving as VP of creative and brand strategy at AMC Networks where she was a key architect of award-winning marketing campaigns for series such as Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More