Los Angeles / New York – August 7, 2020 – Continuing its exploration of true crime and building on the success of recent true crime documentary series, AMC Networks has signed talent deals with Mona Chalabi (The Fix, Vagina Dispatches), Naomi Ekperigin (Broad City, Couples Therapy), Cameron Esposito (Queery, Take My Wife) and Jena Friedman (The Daily Show, Soft Focus) as the company continues to develop original true crime series for its linear networks and streaming services. In keeping with its talent-drive approach to distinctive true crime content, AMC Networks will work closely with Chalabi, Ekperigin, Esposito and Friedman on programming that delivers entertaining, unexpected and progressive points of view in the true crime genre space. Emmy-winning producing partners Left/Right and World of Wonder are on board to develop projects with AMC Studios distributing forthcoming true crime series internationally.
“AMC Networks has a rich history of elevating the true crime format, presenting critically acclaimed programming made by award-winning storytellers – most notably with SundanceTV’s The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park, Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle and The Staircase, among others,” said Dan McDermott, President of Original Programming for AMC Networks’ Entertainment Group and Co-President of AMC Studios. “Mona, Naomi, Cameron and Jena each bring a unique perspective to the true crime conversation while delivering thought-provoking cultural observations and we are thrilled to collaborate with them as we continue to build upon our recent, critically acclaimed successes in this space.”
Combining sharp journalism with colorful, often comical illustrations, Mona Chalabi gives unique, fake news-filtering takes on our most pressing social injustices. Her work has appeared in The Guardian US, The New Yorker, The New York Times, the Tate, The Design Museum, and many more. She has written for radio and TV, including NPR, Gimlet, The Frankie Boyle Show on the BBC, and Nat Geo’s Star Talk. In 2018, she joined the comedy panel show The Fix on Netflix as a data expert. She is also a producer, presenter, and co-creator of the EmmyR-nominated video series Vagina Dispatches. @MonaChalabi
Naomi Ekperigin has her finger on the pulse of the motormouthed, pop-cultured protagonist. Named by Essence as one of eight black women ready for SNL, and a comedian to watch by Rolling Stone, her writing credits include Broad City and Search Party. She is also a correspondent on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and has been featured on 2 Dope Queens. She co-hosts the podcast Couples Therapy with her writer husband, “the show where stand-ups do sets together about their relationship.” An avid true crime fan and armchair sleuth, a savvy, fearless voice for true crime fanatics, Ekperigin’s outspoken, no-holds-barred opinions are infused into her intimate brand of comedy. @Blacktress
Cameron Esposito has appeared on network and cable television as well as in indie and big budget feature films. Her podcast, Queery, features interviews with LGBTQ+ luminaries including Roxane Gay, Trixie Mattel, Evan Rachel Wood and Lena Waithe. Esposito co-created and co-starred in Take My Wife, which garnered rave reviews from The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Vulture. Her most recent special, Rape Jokes, which deals with her own sexual assault, raised nearly $100,000 for RAINN, the largest anti-sexual violence organization in the United States. Her memoir, Save Yourself, was released earlier this year. @cameronesposito
An alumnus of The Daily Show, Jena Friedman spent three years as a field producer for Samantha Bee, John Oliver and Michael Che. She was also a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman. Friedman’s one-woman show American C**t premiered in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was named by Paste as one of the 10 Best Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2016. In her two-installment special, Soft Focus on Adult Swim, she fearlessly interviewed figures such as the “Cannibal Cop” and murder suspect John McAfee, offering a bold blend of feminist politics and heart-in-your-mouth edginess. @JenaFriedman
About AMC Networks
Known for its groundbreaking and celebrated original content, AMC Networks is the company behind the award-winning brands AMC, BBC AMERICA, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, and IFC Films. Its diverse line-up of popular and critically-acclaimed series and independent films include Killing Eve, Better Call Saul and The Walking Dead, which has been the #1 show on cable television for nine consecutive years, as well as Portlandia, Brockmire, Love After Lockup, and the films Boyhood, Death of Stalin, and many more. Its original series Mad Men and Breaking Bad are widely recognized as being among the most influential and acclaimed shows in the history of TV. The Company also operates AMC Studios, its production business; AMC Networks International, its international programming business; the subscription streaming services Shudder, Sundance Now, Acorn TV and UMC (Urban Movie Channel); and Levity Entertainment Group, the Company’s production services and comedy venues business. For more information, visit http://www.amcnetworks.com.
About AMC Studios
AMC Studios is the in-house studio, production and distribution operation for AMC Networks Inc. AMC Studios’ first series, The Walking Dead, is the highest-rated series in cable history. Since then, AMC Studios has produced several critically acclaimed, award-winning and culturally distinctive originals for AMC including scripted series Fear the Walking Dead; The Terror anthology, Lodge 49, NOS4A2 and the upcoming Dispatches From Elsewhere, Soulmates, 61st Street and Kevin Can F**k Himself, as well as unscripted series: Ride with Norman Reedus, James Cameron’s Story Of Science Fiction, Eli Roth’s History of Horror and Hip Hop: The Songs that Shook America. The Studio has also produced for SundanceTV the Peabody Award-winning Rectify, original series Hap and Leonard, as well as the unscripted true crime franchise including Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders and The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park.
About LEFT/RIGHT
LEFT/RIGHT creates television and film projects in an extraordinarily eclectic mix of genres ranging from hard-hitting documentaries to side-splitting comedies, covering topics from sex to secret societies to stand-up comedy to science fiction to school segregation. Past and present productions include the ground-breaking political series THE CIRCUS (Showtime), multiple episodes of the acclaimed investigative series FRONTLINE (PBS), the long-running and easy-going travel series RIDE WITH NORMAN REEDUS (AMC), our award-winning TV adaptation of the popular public radio show THIS AMERICAN LIFE (Showtime), and the New York Times documentary series THE WEEKLY (FX and Hulu). Our shows have been nominated for over a dozen Emmy® Awards and have won multiple awards, including a Peabody® and the Emmy® for Best Nonfiction Series. Left/Right is a Red Arrow Studios company. Company co-founders Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver serve as EPs on the series, along with EVP and head of development Anneka Jones.
About World of Wonder
For nearly three decades, award-winning production company World of Wonder has introduced audiences to new worlds, talent and ideas that have shaped culture. Programming highlights include: Emmy® Award winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1/Logo), “Million Dollar Listing” LA & NY (Bravo), “Dancing Queen” (Netflix), “Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce” (Fuse), and “Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric” (National Geographic); award-winning films and documentaries including “Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures,” “Menendez: Blood Brothers,” “Inside Deep Throat,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” “I Am Britney Jean,” “In Vogue: The Editor’s Eye,” “Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking,” “Monica in Black and White,” Emmy-winning “The Last Beekeeper,” and Emmy-winning “Out of Iraq.” Seven of WOW’s films have premiered at the Sundance Film festival including “Becoming Chaz” and “Party Monster.” World of Wonder has also created a substantial digital footprint with its YouTube channel WOWPresents (1M+ subs), SVOD digital platform WOW Presents Plus, along with an award-winning blog, The WOW Report. World of Wonder’s bi-annual RuPaul’s DragCon is the world’s largest drag culture convention, welcoming 100,000 attendees across LA and NYC in 2019, and expanding internationally to the UK in 2020. Co-founders Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey authored The World According to Wonder, celebrating decades of production, which can be found online at http://worldofwonder.net/. Randy and Fenton were honored with the IDA Pioneer Award in December 2014, celebrating exceptional achievement, leadership, and vision in the nonfiction and documentary community, named to Variety’s Reality TV Impact Report in 2020, and chosen for the OUT100 list in 2018 for their trailblazing work in the LGBTQ+ community. World of Wonder was also selected for Realscreen’s 2018 Global 100 list, which recognizes the top international non-fiction and unscripted production companies working in the industry today. World of Wonder creates out of a historic building/gallery space in the heart of Hollywood.