Wayfarer Studios, the independent production studio co-founded by Justin Baldoni and Steve Sarowitz, has bolstered its executive ranks with the recent hire of veteran executive Tera Hanks, who will now serve as president, while Jamey Heath has been elevated to the role of CEO.
Hanks joins Wayfarer Studios from Westbrook Inc., where she served as president, following a lengthy tenure at CAA.
“I am extremely excited that Tera has joined our team. We share a common goal to produce projects that serve as true agents for social change, and that elevate and speak to the human spirit on a global scale,” Heath said of Hank’s hiring in a statement. “With Tera’s superb business acumen, passion and dedication, Wayfarer sets itself up for incredible growth and new partnerships. This is a wonderful and huge win for us.”
Heath and Hanks will work in tandem to facilitate continued growth for the studio, which is behind the highly-anticipated big-screen adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s hit romance novel “It Ends With Us” (starring Blake Lively and Baldoni), and executive produced the standout documentary “Will & Harper” that debuted to great fanfare at Sundance earlier this year.
The company was founded in 2019 with the mission to “highlight the power of connection, debunking the typical studio model by championing inspirational stories which unite as true agents for social change.” Wayfarer Studios’ current production slate includes “Ezra,” “A Nice Indian Boy,” “Code 3,” “The Senior,” “Empire Waist,” a live-action “Pac-Man” and “Eleanor the Great,” along with documentary features such as “Racist Trees,” “The Herricanes” and “Black Is Beautiful.” The company also serves as executive producers for the upcoming “Garfield” movie.
In 2021, Wayfarer entered a first-look multifaceted partnership with Procter & Gamble spanning across film, TV and new media, with the first project being the successful and Webby-nominated “The Man Enough Podcast.” As president, Hanks will focus on identifying similar brand partners that align with the studio mission; she will also work with Heath to secure distribution for its slate of projects and expand the “Man Enough” platform, which engages an audience that measures more than 100 million views across channels, 6 million podcast downloads and 6.5 million average monthly impressions, all primarily engaging Gen Z and Millennials.
On joining Wayfarer Studios, Hanks said: “Steve, Justin, and Jamey lead with both heart and integrity, and have laid a strong foundation for our collective journey. I look forward to fostering new partnerships and exploring new ways to amplify the incredible stories Wayfarer is bringing to the forefront. Their trust in me to help guide us and grow to the next level fills me with gratitude.”
Hanks spent more than a dozen years at CAA, serving as head of global client strategy, leading business development and strategic diversification for the agency’s clients before joining Westbrook in 2019, where she was a founding member of the leadership team. During her tenure at the media company launched by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Hanks played a vital role in managing the team behind its varied successful productions, like the Emmy-winning “Red Table Talk,” Oscar winner “King Richard,” the hit Peacock series “Bel-Air” and Post Malone’s “Twelve Carat Toothache” VR concert. Hanks also serves on the board of directors of the mental health tech non-profit Project Healthy Minds.
