Black Bear US distribution chief Ben Kramer exits after 15 months
Black Bear's President of U.S. Distribution, Benjamin Kramer, is leaving the company after 15 months in the job. Deadline reported the exit on 2 October 2026, noting that Kramer will stay on through the release of Wicker into November.
Fifteen months. That is the full run.
Kramer joined Black Bear in July 2025 to build its new theatrical distribution business from scratch. That job is about getting the company's films into cinemas and managing the dates, bookings and marketing that go with them. Before Black Bear, he spent eight years co-running the Media Finance division at talent agency CAA, where he worked on financing and packaging films.
His last release in the post will be Wicker, due in cinemas on 23 October. The film stars Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgard, Peter Dinklage and Elizabeth Debicki. Kramer will remain with the organisation into November to see it through its opening weeks.
The plan he was hired to carry out was ambitious. Black Bear aims to release up to 12 films a year domestically, with domestic meaning the United States and Canada. It is a crowded market for independent films, where securing screens and audience attention is a week-by-week fight.
The day-to-day work now sits with a wider team. David Spitz serves as Head of U.S. Theatrical Distribution, with Bianca Parkes leading domestic marketing and Heather Phillips leading domestic publicity. Katie Anderson is executive vice-president of acquisitions, the role that finds and buys new films, while Dan Cohen heads television distribution. The wider business is overseen by chief executive Teddy Schwarzman, partner Michael Heimler and John Friedberg, partner and president of international.
Black Bear only launched its U.S. cinema operation in July 2025, when Kramer was hired to run it. Its first U.S. release was Christy, the Sydney Sweeney boxing drama dated for release that September. That film had taken US$2 million domestically at the time of the 2 October report. Other early releases included Tuner, Shelter and The Rivals of Amziah King.
Anderson, who picks up part of the buying brief, joined earlier this year from Sony Pictures, where she had been a vice-president, Variety reported in January. Black Bear describes itself as a full-scale independent studio that produces, finances and distributes films for a global audience.
What makes this stand out is timing. Building a cinema slate takes years, from buying a script to holding a release date. Kramer started that process, and his deputies will now handle the next round of dates and deals.
