Sean Mills, head of original content at Snap, is leaving after six years with Snapchat’s parent company.
With his departure, Vanessa Guthrie, director of content at Snap who has teamed with Mills in creating originals since 2016, will run the Snap Originals team. Guthrie will report to Ben Schwerin, who was promoted to senior VP of content and partnerships earlier this year.
Mills “has graciously agreed to stay on and help with the transition until September — and while we will miss him tremendously, we’re excited to see what he tackles next,” Snap said in a statement.
Mills did not say what he plans to do next. In a prepared statement, he said, “I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity Evan [Spiegel, Snap CEO and co-founder] gave me to make an impact and I’m so proud of our team’s incredible accomplishments over the past six years. We’ve made lasting innovations in mobile storytelling and with our partners helped program trusted content for hundreds of millions of Snapchatters. The future is very bright for Snap Originals and our larger content ambitions — and I’ll be rooting for the team every step of the way.”
Mills joined Snap in June 2015, after previously serving as president of NowThis and prior to that working at The onion for nearly a decade. He led the development of Snap’s first original series, “Good Luck America” hosted by Peter Hamby, which launched in 2016 ahead of the U.S. election.
To date, Snap has launched or greenlit more than 125 original series featuring a range of Hollywood talent as well as digital-native creators. Those include “Ryan Doesn’t Know” featuring Ryan Reynolds; “Will From Home” starring Will Smith; “While Black with MK Asante”; “Coming Out” from executive producer Chloë Grace Moretz; and “Everything’s Fine,” a scripted comedy centering on mental health from executive producers Paul Feig and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy.
According to the company, Snap Originals have been watched by more than 85% of the Gen Z population in the U.S.
Members of the Snap Originals senior team reporting to Guthrie include Amanda Krentzman, who joined the company in June 2020 from Netflix to develop scripted and unscripted original series in the U.S. along with overseeing international originals globally. At Netflix, she was one of the first executives on the international originals team and shepherded projects in Mexico, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Australia and the U.S. Krentzman was an executive producer on series including “The Rain,” “Dark” and “Club de Cuervos.” Prior to Netflix, she developed “Jane the Virgin” for the U.S. market with Ben Silverman at Electus.
Since starting at Snap, Krentzman has overseen the launch of Snapchat's first non-English-language series, "Phone Swap India," and developed a slate of 11 Indian originals. She also worked with Trippie Redd on his Snap original "Life’s a Tripp," which launches this week, and with Megan Thee Stallion for "Off Thee Leash," her first original series at Snap.
Guthrie's team also includes Anjuli Millan, who oversees production and operations for Snap Originals; Erin Keating, who oversees scripted Snap Originals; and Jill Dickerson, who oversees unscripted Snap Originals after joining the company from OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
