STX Entertainment has named Angus Sutherland as its new chief executive, effective immediately, as the independent studio starts a new chapter under fresh leadership. The company announced the appointment on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, and said Sutherland will take over all of Peter Coleman’s day-to-day responsibilities. Coleman has stepped down as chief executive, and the company thanked him for his leadership and his work on its upcoming slate.
Sutherland will keep his current role as chief operating officer of Film Finances while he leads the studio. He has more than two decades of experience across development, acquisitions, financing, production and international sales, with long experience in production finance and oversight. At Film Finances, he works with producers, production companies and financiers around the world on independent film and television projects, from financing through delivery. The work covers films and television, from early financing to final delivery.
STX Entertainment and a finance-led appointment
The appointment puts a finance specialist in charge of a studio that has always lived close to the deal-making side of the film business. Sutherland’s background is in getting independent films financed and delivered, and that experience matches the way STX Entertainment has worked since it was founded: modest budgets, name actors and distribution partnerships that spread the risk. Deadline first reported the news of his appointment.
STX Entertainment built its name on star-driven independent films, including Bad Moms, Hustlers, The Gentlemen, I Feel Pretty, 21 Bridges, Countdown and the Greenland franchise. The studio also produced FBoy Island, the dating format that ran on HBO Max. Its films have generally cost far less than studio tentpoles, and the company has relied on presales and partnerships to keep that model working.
STX Entertainment history and ownership
The studio was founded in 2014 by Robert Simonds and Bill McGlashan. Simonds was a longtime film producer before founding the studio, and McGlashan was a managing partner at the investment firm TPG. Simonds set out to build a company that could make, finance, distribute and market films and television at scale, with stars at the centre of the plan. Early backing came from firms including TPG Growth, Hony Capital, PCCW Media and Tencent, and the company struck a co-financing and distribution deal with Huayi Brothers in 2015.
The ownership of the studio has changed since then. The Najafi Companies, a private investment firm, agreed to buy STX Entertainment from Eros STX Global Corporation in a deal worth 173 million dollars, and the deal closed in April 2022. Simonds stayed on as chairman, Adam Fogelson stayed on as chairman of the motion picture group, and Noah Fogelson, then the president, became chief executive. Andrew Warren stayed on as chief financial officer, and John Friedberg kept running international and acquisitions from the London office.
STX Entertainment and the road ahead
Sutherland takes over a studio that has been quieter in recent years than it was during its first run of hits. The company has not announced a new slate in detail, and the statement announcing his appointment did not set out production plans or release dates. What it did make clear is that Coleman leaves with the company’s thanks, and that Sutherland starts at once.
His time at Film Finances gives him a direct line into the producers and financiers who fund independent films. Film Finances works on completion guarantees, the bonds that assure a film will be finished and delivered, and Sutherland has spent his career judging whether films can be finished on time and on budget. That is a practical background for a studio chief, and it is the experience the company pointed to when it announced his appointment. STX Entertainment will now test whether that background translates into running a studio.
STX Entertainment will now be led by a chief executive who knows the financing side of the business from the inside. The studio’s next films, and the way they are financed and released, will show how much changes under Sutherland.