Courtenay Valenti closes in on deal with Amazon, sources say
Veteran film director Courtenay Valenti has found her next post. The Warner Bros. alum is close to a deal with Amazon, sources say The Hollywood Reporter. Valenti is expected to land a top role at MGM’s film studio, a job that has been vacant for months.
On September 2, Warner Bros. announced announced that Valenti would step down from her role as president of production and development at the end of October. She spent 33 years with the studio, rising to her most recent role under former studio head Toby Emmerich.
Her departure came after Emmerich left his post as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger and MGM’s Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy came to manage Warners.
In the wake of De Luca and Abdy’s departure from MGM, Amazon’s Jennifer Salke was given oversight of the old studio’s film and TV output. Amazon acquired MGM last March in an $8.5 billion deal, bringing e-commerce giant franchises like James Bond (with Eon) and Belief.
During her time at Warners, Valenti, the daughter of the late MPAA president Jack Valenti, oversaw such films as The Lego moviefour Harry Potter movies and Mad Max: Fury Road. Recent projects she oversaw included George Miller’s upcoming Fury gone follow up, Furiosalike Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Elvis, Barbie and The color purple.
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