Bleecker Street said Tuesday that it has promoted president Kent Sanderson to CEO, taking on the role previously held by company founder Andrew Karpen, who died in April after a battle with brain cancer.
Tyler DiNapoli has been named President and Chief Marketing Officer.
Both Sanderson and DiNapoli have been with the company since its inception in 2014 and have been key in shaping the distributor’s slate and strategy.
Bleecker Street
In addition, Rachel Allen who has been raised to from SVP, Publicity to EVP, Publicity.
“It is my honor to lead Bleecker Street into its second decade. Andrew set a powerful example in which the filmmaker always comes first, the theatrical window is paramount, and great filmmaking is celebrated and championed,” said Sanderson. “All of us at Bleecker are committed to honoring and carrying that vision forward, and while the company will continue to evolve and grow, his legacy will always remain an inherent part of our DNA.”
Sanderson was elevated to President in late 2023 and previously served as Bleecker’s Head of Acquisitions and Ancillary Distribution. In this position, he led the acquisition of such movies as Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace, Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, Gavin Hood’s Eye in the Sky, James Hawes’ One Life, and dozens of other titles, while also overseeing output and licensing deals with Amazon Prime Video, Showtime, Hulu, HBO, Netflix, Starz, and many others.
DiNapoli previously led media and research for Bleecker Street and now, in his new role as President and CMO, he will oversee marketing across the entire slate of titles and a wide range of genres, as well as steward Bleecker’s primary office in New York City, with Sanderson operating in Los Angeles. DiNapoli has been with Bleecker since the beginning, and previously helped manage campaigns including Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, Joe Wright’s Atonement, Henry Selick’s Coraline, and others. He will continue to work closely with Myles Bender, President of Marketing, Creative Advertising, who has also been with Bleecker since its start and will continue to oversee Bleecker’s creative marketing across its diverse slate of titles and its evolving brand in the marketplace.
Allen joined Bleecker Street in 2023 and leads publicity, festival, and awards strategy for the company across its diverse slate. Her recent campaigns include the Academy Award-nominated Golda, and the highly awarded and critically acclaimed release of Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths. In her new role, Allen will continue to lead campaigns for Bleecker’s upcoming slate, including the highly anticipated wide theatrical release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues on September 12, as well as a fall run for Max Walker-Silverman’s Sundance hit Rebuilding starring Josh O’Connor, set for release this fall. Prior to joining Bleecker Street, she served in a senior publicity role at Cinetic Marketing where she led national publicity campaigns for award-winning films and prestige television series, including Oscar and Emmy campaigns.
In addition to these key promotions, Bleecker Street’s senior management team also includes President of Distribution Kyle Davies, former head of theatrical distribution of Paramount Pictures, who also held senior roles at Relativity Media, and DreamWorks; President of Marketing, Creative Advertising Myles Bender, who has been a prominent voice in the creative community for decades with roles at Focus Features, USA Films, and others; and CFO Irwin Reiter, who held senior finance roles at The Weinstein Company and Miramax before joining Bleecker Street.
Karpen founded Bleecker Street in 2014 with the backing of Manoj Bhargava, founder Innovations Ventures. Upcoming titles include the thriller Relay starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and Sam Worthington, which will have its US premiere at Tribeca and will be released on August 22; and Rob Reiner’s Spinal Tap II: The End Continues in September, which will be preceded by a nationwide remastered re-release of the original classic This Is Spinal Tap earlier in the summer.
Content shared from deadline.com.