The 2026 Creative 100: Media, TV & Streaming Innovators Know How to Win

Ali Brown
President & Partner, Prettybird
Co-founder & President, Ventureland

Commercial success: From Super Bowl dominance to Sundance buzz, production leader Ali Brown is stacking wins across every screen. In 2025 alone, her teams delivered campaigns for Nike, e.l.f., Levi’s, Verizon, Netflix, and Mazda, while landing four Super Bowl spots—three of them executive produced by Brown. In 2025, Prettybird was named Production Company of the Year at the Clio Awards and Brown was inducted into the Producers Guild of America.

On tour: Beyond ads, Brown’s creative studio Ventureland produced hits like the Netflix documentaries Murder in Monaco and American Manhunt. She was also the production force behind Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour visuals. Now that’s range.

Emily Henry
Author & Executive Producer

Genre queen: Few writers capture modern love with the clarity and wit of Emily Henry. Her novels, like Beach Read and Happy Place, blend sharp dialogue, emotional depth, and self-aware humor, earning a devoted global readership. Fans keep coming back for the chemistry, but stay for the honesty about ambition, friendship, and grief. In a crowded genre, she delivers stories that feel both escapist and real.

Branching out: Over the past year, she’s continued to dominate bestseller lists with her latest, the rivals-to-lovers Great Big Beautiful Life, while expanding her cultural reach by turning executive producer for Netflix’s adaptation of her novel People We Meet on Vacation. 

Graham Retzik
Head of Creative Marketing & Brand, A24

Play along: At avant garde movie house A24, Graham Retzik has built marketing campaigns that are as compelling as its features. His work turns films into cultural moments, blending design, drops, and internet-native storytelling that fans love to decode and share. Retzik respects his audience’s intelligence and invites participation, making for compelling work.

Building a mystery: Over the past year, he led the rollout for Marty Supreme, leaning into the protagonist’s hustler lifestyle to craft a campaign shrouded in mystery, with unconventional placements to spark sustained buzz well before its release. 

Hunter Harris
Substack Creator & Podcast Host, Hung Up

Love to love: Hunter Harris loves pop culture—but she has lots of questions. Previously a writer for Vulture and New York Magazine, she started her Hung Up platform all about obsession, both hers and the ones she notices in the wider world. She still writes for others, most notably the profile of (surprise!) longtime couple Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song, and for Hinge’s “No Ordinary Love” campaign.

Appointment TV: HBO’s The Pitt has been a lauded new entry in the echelons of medical drama, and Harris is helping viewers deep dive into every episode as co-host of the official companion podcast.

Rule breaker: Harris told Book of the Month that she started a Gossip Girl book club at her Catholic school. Fifteen years later, she ended up on the writing staff for the series reboot on HBO Max. 

Kate Oppenheim
Managing Partner, m ss ng p eces

Applause, please: Recognized as Webby Production Company of the Year in 2025, m ss ng p eces managing partner Kate Oppenheim leads a team who know how to set the internet on fire. The five wins spanned splashy campaigns such as KFC’s Saucy Nuggets Dispensary, which gave the boutique cannabis treatment to its limited edition line of condiments, and the short film “Echoes of Ailey” that brought the renowned studio’s dancers inside the Whitney Museum during its retrospective on the company.

Not just ads: A three-time Emmy-winning producer, Oppenheim has served as EVP of the Tribeca Film Festival since 2021.

Lee Sung Jin
Screenwriter, Director & Showrunner, Beef

Well done: The first season of Beef, released in 2023, was so intense that we’re still talking about it. Ali Wong and Steve Yeun tackling class, mental health, and the need for human connection through a road rage feud required the empathetic, culturally savvy work of Lee Sung Jin. 

New Beef: Season 2 of Beef, which premiered in April, not only has brand-new stars in Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, it’s unpacking its own special baggage: generational conflict between millennials and Gen Z. 

Side project: Lee flew to South Korea to make a music video with RM of K-pop boy band BTS after the singer’s team sent him a DM on Instagram. Apparently, the series resonated across the world, too.

Mickey Down & Konrad Kay
Co-creators, Showrunners & Writers, Industry

The dark side of banking: Down and Kay are behind one of television’s sharpest dramas, HBO Max’s Industry. Their cult hit has grown into a global success, praised for its unfiltered look inside the often opaque world of finance. 

Insider information: Both Oxford graduates and alumni of JPMorgan Chase, they’ve channeled real-world insight into their stories. Most recently in Season 4, which came out in March, they expanded Industry’s scope beyond the London bank Pierpoint to a new financial firm betting on short sales—and under investigation by a fintech journalist. As if there wasn’t enough tension already.

Vic Michaelis & Tamar Levine
Actor/Improviser & Director/Showrunner, Very Important People

Not what you think: Comedy streaming service Dropout’s Very Important People turns improv actors into entirely new people through extreme makeovers—then puts them in the interview hot seat with Vic Michaelis to figure out who they are.

That’s growth: Created as a showcase for the guest comics’ personal styles, VIP has earned buzz for being unpredictable and at times surprisingly heartfelt. The series has also been a significant driver of Dropout’s growing subscriber base. 

Let’s hear it: In addition to Tamar Levine’s empathetic direction, the series’ makeup, costume, and production design teams have also been widely praised.

Alex Addison
EVP of Creative & Strategy, NBA Take-Two Media

Building something new: At the intersection of basketball, gaming, and pop culture stands NBAT2’s Addison. The organization is a joint venture between the league and Take Two Interactive, publisher of NBA 2K. Launched in June 2025, NBAT2 is reimagining the franchise as a creator-led entertainment ecosystem, moving beyond competition with storytelling and live experiences to bring fans closer to players. 

New guard: A viral moment featuring NBA Commissioner Adam Silver welcoming prominent basketball YouTuber Jesser as Honorary Commissioner set the tone for the future of 2K. Addison is also behind original programming such as Nomad, a global travel series with Joakim Noah and the @nbaresdev account, “the unofficial testing lab of the NBA” experimenting with new formats such as the breakout Baddie Performance Index.  

Ashish Verma
Global Head of Creative & Bloomberg Media Studios, Bloomberg Media

Growth driver: At a publisher known for charts and news terminals, creativity is becoming a serious business driver. Under global ECD Ashish Verma, Bloomberg Media Studios posted double-digit growth and expanded from New York, London, and Singapore to a new hub in Dubai.  

Powered by tech: Verma’s work balances data with storytelling, such as consulting firm BCG’s AI-powered CEO Radar, which turned earnings calls into predictive insights. “Market Rhythms” for UBS turned abstract numbers into works of art, while the “Artisans of Time” documentary films for luxury watchmaker Vacheron Constantin used cultural figures such as Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert to tell a story about excellence. The latter generated 5 million impressions in days.

Charlotte Owen
Editor in Chief, Bustle
EVP of Editorial, Bustle Digital Group

Taking charge: Owen stepped in to lead editorial for Bustle Digital Group in October 2024 and immediately proved that original, talent-first storytelling can still drive ROI. In 2025, Bustle saw huge financial gains in multiple categories, including a 575% increase in Food & Beverage, 397% in Pharma/OTC, and 232% in Finance.

Another cover: You can catch Owen hosting the celebrity video series she developed, One Nightstand. The series invites guests like Jessie Buckley, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Mindy Kaling to share what’s on their bookshelves, with episodes reaching over 40 million views in 2025. Social impressions are also up 31% over 2024 under Owen’s directive to prioritize original and access footage in red carpet and BTS reporting.

Christian Davin, Dana Nussbaum & John Stanford
Co-Heads of Global Marketing & Head of Global Creative Strategy, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group

Dream team: The global marketing and creative strategy behind every Warner Bros. Pictures release is shaped by this trio, equipped with cutting-edge data and their finger on the pulse of culture. In 2025, the studio grossed over $4 billion at the worldwide box office and continued its momentum into 2026 with its ninth consecutive No. 1 opening weekend, an industry record that reflects their ability to craft campaigns that break through. 

Collaboration first: Proving they can work with well-known IP and original stories alike, the trio leads by closely collaborating with filmmakers to ensure stories as varied as A Minecraft Movie and One Battle After Another find their audiences.

Claudia Chagui
EVP of Marketing & Creative Strategy, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises

Futbol’s night: It may be the biggest night in American sports, but Claudia Chagui reframed the Super Bowl as the launchpad for this summer’s FIFA World Cup with Owen Wilson and Sofía Vergara. Using humor and bilingual storytelling, she connected with both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences.

The home of culture: As creative director, she launched “El Mundial Es Nuestro,” a cinematic in-house countdown to this summer’s World Cup filmed across all of the tournament’s host cities with real fans, making Telemundo a cultural amplifier rather than just a broadcaster.

Primetime dominance: Her tenure has seen the highest-ranked series (La Casa de los Famosos All-Stars and Dinastía Casillas) and live events (the 2025 Billboard Latin Music Awards), all winning their time slots among Adults 18-49. The Miss Universe pageant was also the most-watched Spanish-language primetime entertainment special of the year.

Ebony Coles
Creative Director of Copy, AMC Global Media

Streaming through it: One rebrand is enough to keep a person busy for a year. But AMC Global Media’s Ebony Coles tackled three in 2025. Horror streaming service Shudder got a more tension-filled tone to attract casual fans; independent film streamer Sundance Now put its dedication to artistry front and center; and For All Reality, a newly launched subscription video-on-demand service, she created a glam-soaked brand voice from the ground up.

Strategy of discipline: Coles guides copy and narrative strategy across AMC Networks, bringing brand clarity and emotional resonance. Her work shows that everything begins with the right copy, which serves as a leadership discipline that defines brand identity and cultural relevance. 

Justin Stockman
VP of Content Development & Programming, Bell Media

Steamy hit: The runaway popularity of gay hockey romance Heated Rivalry may have taken the world by surprise, but not Canadian production house Bell Media’s Justin Stockman. When developing the series, he prioritized ownership and creative control by fully financing the project in-house; it’s since been sold across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and earned a rare 10/10 IMDb episode rating.

Canadian icon: With a content strategy built on smart risk-taking and strong IP, Stockman leads both Canada’s top streamer, Crave, and top broadcast network, CTV. Under Stockman’s leadership, programming now feeds into a 5,500-hour global library, while deals with the likes of Seth Rogen and Elliot Page continue to expand Bell Media’s international reach.

Lauren Solomon
Senior Director of Global Brand & Marketing, Spotify

That’s a wrap: If you’ve seen your Spotify Wrapped at any point over the past nine years, you’ve felt Lauren Solomon’s influence. As the senior director of global brand and marketing, she’s kept the yearly event fresh, feeling like a cultural phenomenon rather than a repetitive tradition and finding new ways to connect with music fans.

New sounds: Solomon guided Spotify’s “Trust in Your Sound” Grammy campaign, which ties into the platform’s longstanding support of the Best New Artist category. Ahead of the awards, billboards went up from Louisiana to London with childhood pictures of headliners such as Olivia Dean celebrating their journeys to the top of the industry. It culminated in Spotify’s first TV spot during the Grammys, narrated by Elton John.