Indigenous Media Staffs Up For Expanded Development

With plans for an aggressive development and production slate in 2016, Indigenous Media, a media company formed by filmmakers Jon Avnet, Rodrigo Garcia and Jake Avnet to produce and distribute original content across emerging and traditional platforms worldwide, has hired two executive vice presidents.

Ben Fast, previously director of scripted television at The Weinstein Co., joins as EVP, development, and Maira Nevarez, former VP finance, E! Entertainment and Esquire Television Networks at NBC Universal is on board as EVP, finance and operations. Both positions report to Jake Avnet.

“We are looking forward to ramping up development and production of content across multiple platforms in 2016 which is why we are expanding our senior management team,” said Jon Avnet. “Ben and Maira bring strong traditional media experience coupled with entrepreneurial spirit and digital know how,” added Garcia.

At The Weinstein Co., Fast worked on War & Peace starring Paul Dano and Lily James, which will premiere in January on Lifetime, A&E and History, as well as NBC’s upcoming miniseries The Reaper. Before joining TWC, Fast produced several digital shorts and series and wrote for Leverage on TNT. Fast earned a B.A. at Princeton University and an M.F.A. at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.

Prior to NBC Universal, Nevarez served as director, finance business licensing support at Paramount Pictures and VP finance at Univision and TeleFutura Television Group. She earned a B.A. at University of California Los Angeles and an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School.