Davis exits Starz

Christina Davis is stepping down as president of original programming at Lionsgate-owned US cablenet Starz after 13 months.

Christina Davis

Davis exited the position to pursue other opportunities, a Starz spokesperson said in a statement to US trade outlet Deadline, which first broke the news.

The hunt is now on for Davis’ replacement, with Karen Bailey, exec VP of original programming, leading the Starz programming and development team in the meantime.

Davis has not announced her next move but is expected to take some time off, according to reports.

At Starz, Davis had replaced former programming head Carmi Zlotnik, who left the premium cablenet to become a producer at Apple TV+.

As president of original programming, Davis oversaw upcoming programmes such as Gaslit, The Serpent Queen and Black Mafia Family, as well as shows in their second season including P-Valley.

Davis joined Starz from CBS, where she was executive VP of drama series development, a role she held from 2009 to 2017. She worked on CBS projects such as CSI, NCIS, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, Hawaii Five-O, Elementary, Madam Secretary, Scorpion, Bull, MacGyver and Code Black.

Davis started out in the CBS drama series department in 1997 as assistant to then drama head Nina Tassler before working her way up at the firm.

After leaving CBS in 2017, Davis co-founded prodco Maniac Productions with writer-producer Michael Seitzman, based at ABC Studios.