Warner Bros. Communications Chief Katie Martin Kelley Jumps to Netflix
Katie Martin Kelley, EVP of Communications at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, is leaving for Netflix. She starts September 8 as VP Communications, overseeing communications for Dan Lin's feature film portfolio, Deadline reports.
At Netflix, Martin Kelley will report to Chief Communications Officer Dani Dudeck and join a global team that includes Kelly Pakula (VP Global Corporate Comms), Oliver Rawlins (VP Comms EMEA), Flávia Vigio (VP Comms LATAM) and Joy Albert (VP Comms APAC). Her remit is broad: live-action films and documentaries under film chairman Dan Lin, kids and family animation (including Netflix Animation Studios), animated series, film and TV licensing, and Netflix's international films and series. She is not backfilling the role previously held by Netflix's long-time VP of Communications Emily Feingold.
Dudeck, in a statement, praised Martin Kelley's "more than 20 years of experience from some of the world's most renowned studios." Dudeck is also separately recruiting a VP of Communications, Series, to lead efforts across series, podcasts, games, and live event and sports content.
The slate Martin Kelley will help shape is busy. Upcoming Netflix titles include La Bola Negra, David Fincher's follow-up to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood; thriller Animals; animated features Steps, Ray Gunn and In Waves; documentaries 14th, Avedon and Basquiat; dramas Gentle Monster and INK; and action feature The Mosquito Bowl. Netflix is also pushing into longer theatrical windows in 2027, with Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew set for theatres on February 12 before arriving on Netflix April 2, and Charlie vs the Chocolate Factory hitting theatres November 5 before streaming December 22.
Martin Kelley's departure from Warner Bros. carries extra weight. She is the second known high-level WBD executive to leave recently amid uncertainty surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery's pending acquisition by Paramount. Last month, Pia Barlow, EVP Originals Marketing for HBO Max, joined Amazon MGM Studios as VP of Series Marketing — a move that triggered a poaching lawsuit by Warner Bros. Discovery.
Per sources, Martin Kelley's contract at Warner Bros. Discovery was up, and it is unclear whether her role will be backfilled. The Paramount-WBD merger remains held up by an antitrust suit with state attorneys general scheduled for March. During her three-year tenure at Warner Bros., Martin Kelley led media relations and corporate communications across Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, and the studio's genre label Warner Bros. Clockwork. Warner Bros. posted one of its strongest years at the box office in 2025, grossing north of $4 billion worldwide on a lineup that included Oscar winners One Battle After Another and Sinners, plus blockbusters Weapons and A Minecraft Movie.
Before Warner Bros., Martin Kelley served as Chief Communications Officer at MGM Studios, working with Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. She also spent 12 years handling domestic and corporate communications under the Rob Moore regime at Paramount. Earlier in her Warner Bros. tenure, she stepped in to handle corporate press inquiries on an interim basis following the January 2024 exit of WBD Corporate Communications Chief Nathaniel Brown, Variety reported.
For Netflix, the hire brings a seasoned studio communicator precisely as the streamer deepens its investment in theatrical release strategy and a sprawling original film slate. For Warner Bros., it is another senior departure at a moment when the studio's corporate future hangs on a court calendar.
