EPIX NAMES NANCY COTTON EVP, HEAD OF SCRIPTED PROGRAMMING

Industry veteran with history of award-winning original content to lead scripted programming, reporting to Michael Wright, President, EPIX

NEW YORK, NY – February 20, 2018 – Michael Wright, the newly appointed President of EPIX, the premium pay TV network owned by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), announced today that one of the industry’s top programming executives and leaders in the development of original scripted series, Nancy Cotton, has been named Executive Vice President, Head of Scripted Programming. She reports to Wright, working out of the EPIX Los Angeles office at MGM’s headquarters beginning today.

In her new role, Cotton will be responsible for development and production of all scripted original series, working in partnership with Wright to advance EPIX’s position as a destination for premium, award-winning programming that complements and enhances its slate of great movies from leading studios.

“I’ve known and had the pleasure of working with Nancy on many projects over the years, and she is one of the most skilled television executives in the business. Her taste, experience and talent relationships are first rate and a huge addition to our team,” said Wright. “We are fortunate to have Nancy join EPIX at a time when the network is rapidly expanding, both its original programming and its distribution platforms, and her ability to attract and nurture great content will be vital to our growth.”

Said Cotton, “I’m thrilled to be working with Michael and the team at EPIX to continue to build the network into a choice destination for creative talent. EPIX has a powerful reach that presents an incredible opportunity for fresh, compelling storytelling, and I’m beyond excited to hit the ground running.”

Cotton joins EPIX from Heyday TV USA where she was most recently President. Working with David Heyman (Harry Potter, Gravity, The Light Between Oceans), she oversaw series targeted for broadcast, cable, and streaming, including In Between Lives, showrunner Moira Kirland’s pilot recently ordered by NBC for 2018 consideration. Heyday TV also has projects currently in development with Emmy and Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier, Oscar-nominated writer Richard Lagravenese, Oscar-nominated director Jamie Donoughue, and celebrated actor Patrick Dempsey.

For nine years from 2007-2016, Cotton was Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs at Fox 21 Television Studios (formerly Fox Television Studios). She developed and oversaw the award-winning and critically acclaimed drama The Americans (FX), the Emmy-nominated series The Killing (AMC and Netflix),
and Queen of the South (USA), starring Alice Braga. She also developed The Chi (Showtime), written by Emmy award winner Lena Waithe, as well as Veena Sud’s upcoming Seven Seconds (Netflix). In addition, she oversaw The Comedians (FX), starring multi-award winning actors Billy Crystal and Josh Gad, Oscar- winner Holly Hunter’s Emmy-nominated Saving Grace (TNT), and Emmy-nominated The Riches (FX), starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.

Prior to FTVS, Cotton was head of television for Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions where she executive- produced broadcast series including Kevin Hill (UPN), starring Taye Diggs, Clubhouse (CBS), starring Dean Cain, Mare Winningham and Christopher Lloyd, and Complete Savages (ABC), co-created by Mike and Julie Thacker Scully. She also executive-produced the acclaimed 10-part documentary series Carrier (PBS), which followed the US Navy’s nuclear aircraft supercarrier USS Nimitz on its six- month tour to the Persian Gulf in 2005.

Cotton was Vice President of Programming for Mandalay Television, where she produced Young Americans (WB), starring Kate Bosworth and Ian Sommerholder, and worked on Jeremy Piven
vehicle Cupid (ABC), created by Rob Thomas (creator of Veronica Mars). Before Mandalay, she was Director, Drama Series at ABC, and oversaw numerous series including David Kelley’s award-winning The Practice. She began her television career as an assistant in the television literary department at The William Morris Agency.

EPIX programming includes critically acclaimed original scripted series: Get Shorty, starring Chris O’Dowd and Ray Romano, renewed for its second season; Berlin Station, starring Richard Armitage, Ashley Judd and Richard Jenkins, renewed for its third season; and The Truth About Harry Quebert, starring Patrick Dempsey, currently in post-production. The lineup also features original documentaries such as This Is Home, which won the 2018 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Documentary audience award, plus thousands of popular hit movies and film franchises including James Bond, Rocky, Mission Impossible and Star Trek.

EPIX is available nationwide through cable, satellite, telecommunications and streaming TV providers including Charter Spectrum, Cox, Verizon FiOS, ATT U-verse, Dish, Sling, PlayStation Vue and, beginning April 2018, Comcast.