Dawn Ostroff is president of Condé Nast Entertainment (CNÉ), an award-winning next generation studio producing projects across film, television, premium digital video and virtual reality based on Condé Nast’s iconic brands.
Since its founding in 2011, CNÉ has 27 active film projects with two films releasing in 2016, “The First Monday in May,” which had the honor of opening the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and “Army of One,” releasing later this year, one film in production and one more going into production in the fall. Additionally, CNÉ currently has six unscripted and one scripted television series in production and on the air, and multiple pilots sold to various television networks. CNÉ’s digital video network was launched 2013 and produces more than 4,000 videos annually. Over the last year, CNÉ garnered more than 2.8 billion video views, won its first Emmy Award, and received multiple Academy Award nominations for its short form film digital content.
CNÉ also launched The Scene, the first platform dedicated to premium digital video for its channels. The Scene recently released a redesign and has been reimagined as a mobile-first, video social platform with a new mobile app currently available in the iTunes App store. In just three years, CNÉ’s digital video content has been awarded a Producers Guild Award and nine Tellys, and has received multiple award nominations from the Television Academy, The Webbys and other esteemed industry organizations.
Prior to joining Condé Nast in the fall of 2011, Ostroff launched and led the new CW broadcast network, a joint venture of CBS and Warner Bros., beginning January 2006. As president of entertainment, she was responsible for all aspects of the CW’s creative efforts, including programming, digital initiatives, branding, marketing, research and sales, and developed a multitude of groundbreaking hit series—among them, Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries and America’s Next Top Model. In an effort to engage the digital CW generation across multiple platforms, Ostroff and her team developed cutting-edge strategies for streaming in order to leverage content and revenue opportunities.
From 2002 to 2006, Ostroff served as president of UPN Network, a subsidiary of CBS, where she oversaw all areas of the network’s business—programming, digital, branding, marketing, sales, finance, research, legal and publicity, and more.
Before UPN, Ostroff served as executive vice president of entertainment at Lifetime Television, where she headed up programming and production, scheduling and acquisitions, including Lifetime Original Movies, prime-time series, specials, documentaries and sports, as well as all programming for Lifetime Movie Network and Lifetime Real Women. In the five years that Ostroff led Lifetime Entertainment (1996–2002), the network rose from sixth place to become the #1-rated cable network in prime time.
Earlier in her career Ostroff held senior roles at 20th Century Fox Television, Michael Jacobs Productions (at Disney) and the Kushner-Locke Company. She began her career working at several local channels in news as an on-air reporter and a producer.
Ostroff has a BS in journalism from Florida International.