Kim Rozenfeld Steps Down As Apple Head Of Current Programming & Unscripted, Segues To First-Look Deal
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EXCLUSIVE: Following the November 1 launch of Apple TV+, the streamer is realigning its executive ranks under toppers Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, combining development and current into a single-executive structure.
Kim Rozenfeld is leaving as head of current scripted programming and docu/unscripted content. He will return to his producing roots with a first-look deal at Apple for his company Half Full Productions.
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Apple TV+ head of scripted development Matt Cherniss will now also oversee current scripted series. Molly Thompson, who joined Apple as Head of Documentaries in April, reporting to Rozenfeld, will continue to oversee documentary film and series programming, development and current.
Former Sony TV head of current programming Rozenfeld was one of the first executive hires after Van Amburg and Erlicht left Sony TV in 2017 to lead worldwide video programming for Apple.
Before joining Sony TV as EVP Current Programming in 2011, Rozenfeld was a scripted series producer based at ABC Studios, executive producing the ABC Family series Huge. He previously was a 20th TV-based producer who produced and directed the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl.
Rozenfeld also produced R.J. Cutler’s Emmy-winning docu series American High. On the executive side, he served as VP Comedy Programs and SVP Current for ABC on the scripted side, and VP Series Development and Programming at VH1 on the unscripted one.
Before joining Apple in August 2017, Cherniss served as president and general manager of WGN America and Tribune Studios for four years, overseeing WGNA’s transformation from a superstation to a cable network and home of high-end original drama series with series like Salem, Manhattan, Outsiders and Underground. He exited last month as the network is changing programming strategy in light of parent Tribune’s pending acquisition by Sinclair, away from high-end homegrown dramas toward low-cost international acquisitions.
Prior to joining WGNA in 2013, Cherniss spent two years on the feature side, working as SVP Production for Warner Bros, where he oversaw the development and production of such movies as 300: Rise of an Empire. Prior to that, Cherniss was EVP Programming and the No. 2 programming executive for Fox Broadcasting Co, where he shepherded the development of such series as Glee, Raising Hope and Bob’s Burgers. As SVP Original Programming at FX, Cherniss played an integral role in the development of Damage, Nip/Tuck, as well as Rescue Me and Sons of Anarchy.
Thompson was A&E IndieFilms founder and Head of Documentary films for A+E Networks, and has executive produced such projects as The Clinton Affair; the docuseries Watergate; City of Ghosts; Murderball; and Jesus Camp.
Thompson worked as executive producer on all feature films produced under the A&E IndieFilms/History Films/ Lifetime Films banners, including Werner Herzog’s Meeting Gorbachev, Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld, Douglas Tirola’s Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and the Johnny Knoxville-produced Being Evel. Among other projects, Thompson also EP’d Emmy-winning films: The Tillman Story; Life, Animated; Cartel Land, as well as Bart Layton’s BAFTA-winning The Imposter. She was also EP on the 2019 IDA nominated Learning to Skate in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl.)
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