Former Astro OTT content lead Mark Francis joins WarnerMedia

WarnerMedia has bolstered its original productions teams with three senior hires in advance of the launch of HBO Max in the region. Mark Francis (pictured left), former head of OTT content at Astro and iflix chief content officer, has been named group lead of production and development (scripted and unscripted). Francis will lead a regional team to develop Asian original productions under the “Max Originals” banner.

He reunites with Jason Monteiro, who joined as general manager of HBO Max Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan earlier this year. Monteiro previously worked at iflix as general manager of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Wee Shi Ming has been appointed lead of entertainment content acquisition for North Asia content. Wee started in late 2021 and will focus on securing Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Anime titles. Wee was at Viu and Sony Pictures Television Networks, where she was head of acquisition and programming for Asian content. Wee now works alongside Katheryn Lim, who leads content acquisition for international and English-language entertainment titles. Francis and Wee are both based in Singapore and report to Magdalene Ew, WarnerMedia’s head of content – entertainment for Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In Mumbai, Saugata Mukherjee (pictured) joins WarnerMedia as head of content – entertainment, India. A Former SonyLiv and Disney executive, Mukherjee also joined in late 2021 and is responsible for commissioning local originals, as well as acquiring and developing Indian content across all general entertainment genres. The newly-created role, like Ew, reports into Clement Schwebig, Managing Director of India, Southeast Asia and Korea.

Schwebig said: “These are vital roles as we look to ramp up our original content and programming ambitions in this region. Francis, Mukherjee, and Wee have a great eye for a winning project and have enviable connections within the industry. With them all now in place over the past few months, we’re looking in great shape to entertain local audiences with a well-rounded and premium slate.”

In September 2021, WarnerMedia also announced the appointment of Audrey Wee as the physical production lead for its growing line-up of regional entertainment content in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. And in July, May-Yi Lee was named lead of development and production – unscripted for the same region. Wee reports into Ew while Lee reports into Francis.

HBO Max launched in the US in May 2020 and began its global roll out last year, launching in 39 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean in the summer. The streaming platform arrived in Europe in October with launches in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, as well as Spain and Andorra. It will continue to launch in additional European countries this year.

Meanwhile, the company parted ways with Amit Malhotra last year. He was previously MD, Southeast Asia and India and reported to Johannes Larcher, head of HBO Max International.

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