‘Promising Young Woman’ Producer Ashley Fox To Lead FilmNation’s Movie Production Department After Ben Browning’s Exit To Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Firm

EXCLUSIVE: FilmNation Entertainment has promoted Ashley Fox to lead the company’s film production department, we can reveal.

The appointment follows Fox’s Oscar and PGA nominations as a producer on Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, the FilmNation and LuckyChap co-production starring Carey Mulligan.

In her new role, Fox will oversee the development and production of FilmNation’s slate including the recently-announced The People We Hate At The Wedding with Allison Janney, Annie Murphy, and Ben Platt. She will report to CEO Glen Basner and join the company’s leadership group.

Fox’s promotion follows the recent departure of longtime FilmNation Production President Ben Browning who we understand has joined Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s production company Archewell Productions in a key role, marking the company’s first senior hire (as first reported by THR). At FilmNation, Browning was a producer on movies including Late Night, The Courier and Promising Young Woman, as well as on HBO series I Know This Much Is True.

Stefanie Berk will continue to lead FilmNation’s TV production push.

In addition to Promising Young Woman, which garnered five Oscar nominations earlier this week, Fox recently produced The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things released by Amazon Studios and served as executive producer on Dominic Cooke’s The Courier starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

As her first hire in the new FilmNation role, Fox has brought on Lucas Wiesendanger as Vice President of Production. Wiesendanger joins FilmNation after serving as Vice President at Red Wagon Entertainment, where he oversaw development in film and TV, including serving as executive producer on last year’s The Craft: Legacy and as co-executive producer on an unannounced series for Paramount TV and Spectrum Originals. He began his career at Gersh.

Fox joined the company in 2016 after having served as an agent at WME where she worked with bestselling authors representing books as film and TV source material.

“Ashley has proven that she has exquisite taste, collaborates well with world class filmmakers and cares deeply about the films she works on. I am thrilled to acknowledge all this with her promotion and excited to have her serve in a key leadership role at the company,” said Basner.

“FilmNation has been my home for the past five years; I’m thrilled to continue working with our fantastic team in this new role, and I’m grateful to the filmmakers and creative partners who entrust us with their stories. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Lucas into the fold – he has excellent taste, a brilliant creative approach to material, and strong relationships with filmmakers and the community. I know he’ll be an asset to the team and can’t wait for him to dive in,” added Fox.

Recent FilmNation productions include Greyhound starring Tom Hanks, Sean Durkin’s The Nest starring Jude Law and Carrie Coon, Dominic Cooke’s aforementioned The Courier and Oscar hopeful Promising Young Woman. Upcoming are Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence with Hugh Jackman, Damian Szifron’s Misanthrope with Shailene Woodley, and The Outfit starring Mark Rylance.

TV projects include Derek Cianfrance’s Emmy-winning I Know This Much Is True starring Mark Ruffalo on HBO, and the company announced in early 2019 the launch of its UK-based TV production company with Nordic Entertainment Group. The blue-chip New York-based sales and production outfit also has stage and podcast interests.