Cindy Holland is stepping down as CEO of production company Sister to take on a role as senior adviser to David Ellison and Skydance Media, ahead of the expected close of Skydance’s deal to merge with Paramount Global in 2025.
With the departure of Holland, a former long-time Netflix exec, Sister’s board has decided to shut down its Los Angeles film and TV office at the end of 2024, the company said. CFO Chris Fry will serve as interim CEO while a search takes place to find a successor. In L.A., Sister has fewer than 20 employees.
Holland joined Sister in July 2023 as global CEO, after she left Netflix in 2020. The production company was founded by media mogul Elisabeth Murdoch and “Chernobyl” producer Jane Featherstone.
In her advisory role with Skydance, Holland will provide her expertise on the streaming business.
Holland said in a statement: “Sister has always been synonymous with quality storytelling, creative integrity and an extraordinary team and I am very proud to have been a part of it. I’m grateful to Liz, Jane and the whole team for their partnership, and I look forward to collaborating with them on projects in the future. I’ve had a longstanding relationship with David and the senior team at Skydance and I’m energized by the opportunity to work closely with them.”
Elisabeth Murdoch said in a statement, “Cindy is a brilliant, talented executive and anyone would be fortunate to work with her. I’m truly grateful for her stewardship and her leadership, and hope we’ll collaborate together in a new capacity for many years. These are challenging times for production companies, requiring difficult decisions. The board believes, as I do, that we can significantly boost sustainable growth and strengthen our group by doubling down on our proven track record of successfully producing from the UK for a worldwide audience. Our exceptional U.K. base for Sister film and television operations that sells and produces for the U.S. and the world will be our model moving forward. I’m thankful for the work of the Sister U.S. film and television team, and we will take care of them.”
Sister’s board concluded that given challenging market conditions in the U.S. for film and TV production, it made better sense to close the L.A. office and focus most of their resources on the U.K. market.
This year Sister is premiering a slate of six projects: Good Grief (Netflix), Passenger (ITV/BritBox), Eric (Netflix), Kaos (Netflix), The Split: Barcelona (BBC), and the highly anticipated Black Doves (Netflix), which has already been commissioned for a second season even before it premieres this December. In addition, through its investments, this year’s slate also includes Dorothy St. Pictures’ Emmy Award-winning Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix), Anatomy of Lies (Peacock), South of the River Pictures’ Wicked Little Letters, Locksmith Animation’s critically acclaimed Last Christmas (Netflix), Campside Media’s popular podcasts Noble, Night Shift and White Devil, among others. Additional upcoming projects include Yes Yes Media’s Silence is Golden (U&Dave) and Locksmith Animation’s That Christmas for Netflix and Bad Fairies for Warner Bros.
Sister will continue to sell and produce shows for the US, and remaining US investments include Zando and Campside Media (where it holds a majority stake), and the company will continue to support US-based employees for Dorothy St. Pictures and Locksmith Animation.
During Holland’s tenure, Sister U.S. received a film greenlight from Netflix for The Woman in Cabin 10, currently in production, and struck talent deals with Natasha Lyonne and Brit Marling/Zal Batmanglij.
SISTER UK’s film and television presence includes Dorothy St. Pictures, Locksmith Animation, South of the River Pictures and Yes Yes Media.