Michelle Slavich, Communications Executive for Warner Bros. is leaving her role with the company to join Netflix as their President of Publicity, Variety claims. In her new position, Slavich will lead efforts for series, film and documentary programming in the United States and Canada. She will report to Rachel Whetsone, Netflix’s Chief Communications Officer and former coworker at Google-owned YouTube.
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, is excited to have Slavich’s talents aboard the streaming giant’s team. He told Variety, “I’m delighted to welcome Michelle Slavich to our publicity team here in the US across film and television and drive promotion around our biggest global titles.” He asserts that Slavich is “a respected PR leader who brings us a powerful blend of creative flair, strategic thinking, and an understanding of how to execute great campaigns at scale.”
Variety confirms that Netflix’s Vice President of Publicity, Shannon Buck will remain in her role and report to Slavich. However, Buck’s associate in film, Julie Fontaine, recently exited the company.
The new Netflix executive began her career as a publicity assistant at Steven Spielberg’s nonprofit organization, the Shoah Foundation, which dedicates its efforts to recording the testimonies of Holocaust survivors for educational use. Slavich also held positions at Rogers & Associates and PeopleSupport Inc., as well as in the theatrical publicity at DreamWorks/Amblin Entertainment and Universal, according to Variety.
Slavich joined Warner Bros. in the spring of 2018 as the company’s vice president of global publicity and strategy. Before this recent position, she worked at YouTube in entertainment and music communications, including branding campaigns for the platform’s various subscription services.