Amy Entelis

Executive Vice President For Talent CNN Originals and Creative Development
CNN

Amy Entelis is executive vice president for talent and content development for CNN Worldwide. She is based in New York.

Entelis joined CNN in 2012 and is responsible for new program development and acquisitions for CNN Worldwide, as well as the identification and recruitment of on-air talent for CNN programming and platforms.

Under her leadership, CNN has launched three new premium content brands: CNN Original Series, created to develop multi-part, non-fiction series; CNN Films, created to co-produce and acquire documentary films and leverage distribution opportunities at festivals and in theaters; and CNN Films Presents, which acquires and broadcasts encore runs of notable documentary features.

Entelis and her original series team have developed more than 20 original nonfiction series, including the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, produced by ZPZ Productions, which has been honored with four consecutive Primetime Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Informational Series between 2013 and 2016, as well as Primetime Emmy® Awards for cinematography and writing, and a 2013 Peabody Award for excellence and meritorious work. For 2017, Entelis’ team developed Soundtracks: Songs That Made History executive produced by Dwayne Johnson; Believer with Reza Aslan; The History of Comedy executive produced by Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, Mark Herzog, and Christopher Cowen; and, The Nineties, executive produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Mark Herzog.

Other series developed under Entelis’ guidance include Morgan Spurlock: Inside Man, honored as Best Limited Series at the 29th annual International Documentary Association (IDA) awards; Chicagoland and Death Row Stories, with executive producer Robert Redford’s Sundance Productions; the Primetime Emmy® Award-nominated The Sixties and The Seventies, both executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman of Playtone; The Hunt with John Walsh, produced by Zero Point Zero Production; and, Finding Jesus: Faith. Fact. Forgery produced by Nutopia Productions.

Entelis shepherded This is Life with Lisa Ling to a #1 premiere among cable news programs in its time period for total viewers and among viewers aged 25 to 54 years, and, Somebody’s Gotta Do It with Mike Rowe debuted to the best premiere ratings ever for a CNN Original Series among viewers aged 25 to 54 years. Her team developed several groundbreaking series for 2016 including the Emmy®-nominated Race for the White House, from Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, which established a ratings record for a CNN Original Series premiere; the Emmy®-nominated United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, the Emmy®-nominated The Eighties, executive produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Mark Herzog, and, Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies, executive produced by Gregory Lipstone, Domini Hofmann, and former Congressman Mike Rogers.

Since 2013, CNN Films has acquired, co-produced, or commissioned more than 30 feature and short films, including Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Our Nixon, directed by Penny Lane; Life Itself, directed by Steve James; Ivory Tower, directed by Andrew Rossi; Dinosaur 13, directed by Todd Miller; White: United States of America V. James J. Bulger, directed by Joe Berlinger; Documented, directed by Jose Antonio Vargas; Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me directed by James Keach; Blackface, directed by Roger Ross Williams; All-American Family, directed by Andrew Jenks; The Hunting Ground, directed by Kirby Dick; Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, directed by Alex Gibney; Holy Hell, directed by Will Allen; Enlighten Us: The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray, directed by Jenny Carchman; and Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago, directed by Peter Pardini.

As part of her role leading the strategic direction for CNN Films and CNN Original Series, Entelis has developed unique co-production partnerships that extend nonfiction long-form storytelling beyond the television screen and further the impact of the content. Her team negotiated the acquisition of the Peabody and Emmy® award-winning film, 9/11 directed by Gédéon Naudet, including the filmmakers’s rich archival material. The film was updated for the anniversary of the tragic events, 9/11: Fifteen Years Later, and CNN Worldwide has preserved the original film archive for future generations of researchers. Entelis also developed a co-production with The Documentary Group, for We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World featuring First Lady Michelle Obama, Meryl Streep, Freida Pinto, and CNN’s Isha Sesay, exploring the lives and challenges of girls in Liberia and Morocco seeking their educations, which, like Girl Rising, amplifies a call to action for women and girls. In 2017, We Will Rise was honored with a Television Academy Honors Award, for content that has ‘harnessed the extraordinary power of television to advance social change,’ and a CINE Golden Eagle, for exceptional media content, in nonfiction.

CNN Films and CNN Original Series have also screened at the Sundance Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, SXSW Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. CNN Original Series has partnered with Fremantle Media for the global distribution of select productions. CNN Films has partnered with companies including Paramount, Participant Media, Lionsgate, Kartemquin Films, Vimeo, RADiUS-TWC, and Magnolia Pictures for theatrical and/or digital film distribution throughout North America. In 2015, Entelis led CNN’s partnership with Tribeca Film Festival and Camden International Film Festival for a joint annual Filmmaker Retreat with CNN Films in Camden and Rockport, Maine, supporting the development of the next generation of documentary filmmakers.

Entelis also leads the identification, recruitment, and development of on-air correspondents, anchors, and contributors for CNN Worldwide. The more than two dozen television journalists that have joined CNN since the beginning of her tenure have shaped a renewal of the global prominence of the network.

Entelis’ illustrious career in television journalism began at ABC News as a producer on the weekly news magazine 20/20, and later as a producer at World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. During her 30-year tenure at ABC News, Entelis worked in various roles of increasing responsibility, ultimately serving as senior vice president for talent strategy, development, and research until May 2011. She hired and developed the careers of hundreds of ABC News journalists, including recruiting and managing talent for the network’s most high-profile programs including Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Nightline, and 20/20. She received many awards while at ABC News, including the National News Emmy®, the DuPont-Columbia Award, the Front Page Award from the Newswomen’s Club of NY, the Headliner Award, and the Planned Parenthood Award.

ABC News President Roone Arledge recruited Entelis for her first management role with a mandate to develop women and minorities for on-air positions. Later at ABC News, Entelis pioneered the first system in network news that coordinated the identification, recruitment, and development of all on-air talent. Following ABC News, Entelis served as executive vice president, talent strategy at Sucherman Consulting Group.

A graduate of Vassar College, Entelis received a Master’s of Science in journalism from Columbia University and serves as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Speaking on: To Tell the Truth: The Intersection of Non-Fiction and News,30 Minutes With: Amy Entelis, CNN