Liz Gateley, former head of development, originals at Spotify Studios, has left the company to launch Damsel Media.
The new company is a television, film, direct-to-consumer and digital media production company that will be focused on Gen Z. Before working at Spotify, Gateley was head of programming at Lifetime.
Gateley has created content including Laguna Beach, The Hills, 16 & Pregnant, Teen Mom, Teen Wolf, Surviving R. Kelly, Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (If You’re a Girl), which won the Oscar in 2020 for documentary short, and developed the scripted series You.
Gateley joined Spotify in February 2019 as a member of the original podcast studios team. She bought Wind of Change, a co-production with Pineapple and Crooked Media, as an exclusive original for Spotify, which won the 2020 Webby for best podcast of the year.
She oversaw Spotify’s Warner Bros./DC partnership deal which launched podcasts including Batman Unburied, which was adapted into eight languages and launched in nine countries and reached #1 on the Spotify podcast charts.
Additional series in the partnership included Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind, with Christina Ricci, and The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark, starring Hasan Minhaj. Gateley also worked alongside Kim Kardashian on her podcast The System: The Case of Kevin Keith.
Gateley led Spotify’s recent push into video and developed What Now? With Trevor Noah currently in its second season. Gateley also led the creation of Spotify Pictures, which adapts podcasts and IP from the platform into a visual medium, launching RapCaviar Presents as a documentary.
“I am so grateful for the past 6 years at Spotify, not only because of the talented people I got to work with, but the tremendous amount of learning while developing projects with incredible creators within a fast-growing, dynamic company,” Gateley said. “Now it’s time for me to return to my love of longform storytelling and my passion for making premium content for young audiences with Damsel Media.”
Gateley has signed with CAA and with Tara Senior & Todd Weinstein at Weinstein/Senior. Damsel Media has partnered with 32 Flavors and Haymaker East on the company’s first two projects, with casting underway on both.
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