Closer Media Hires Joanna Korshak & Whitney Dibo As SVPs Production Amid Efforts To Ramp Up Scripted Feature Output; John Lin Promoted
EXCLUSIVE: New York-based production and finance outfit Closer Media has expanded its executive ranks amid efforts to ramp up its output of scripted features, appointing Joanna Korshak and Whitney Dibo as Senior Vice Presidents of Production. The company has also promoted John Lin to Director of Development.
Dibo will be based in New York, working alongside company founder Zhang Xin and Creative Executives Sean Pan and Sophie Levy. Korshak and Lin will work from Closer’s Los Angeles offices, alongside company President Jonathan King.
Prior to joining Closer, Korshak held production executive posts at Sister and Fifth Season. She spent much of her early career at Endeavor Content and WME, where she rose through the independent film group specializing in financing, advisory services and selling distribution rights for such notable films as The Rider, directed by Academy Award winner Chloé Zhao, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the Mr. Rogers documentary directed by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville.
Dibo joins from Anonymous Content, where she served as VP of Film and Television, overseeing an ambitious TV/film slate with a specific focus on projects sourced from outside the traditional industry pipeline. She began her career at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago and earned an MFA in Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism from Yale before taking executive posts at Scott Rudin Productions and The Weinstein Company.
Upped from Creative Executive, Lin previously worked at Participant and Concordia Studio — alongside Closer Media’s King, in both cases — on narrative features such as Ben Cleary’s Swan Song and Jayro Bustamante’s Rita, as well as the documentaries Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie and Deaf President Now!.
In a joint statement on the appointments, Closer Media’s Zhang and King said, “Joanna, Whitney and John bring different experiences and talents to Closer, but all share the kind of exceptional drive, taste and professional reputation we need to help our company grow. As we rebuild our development pipeline and seek out financing opportunities and creative partnerships both in the U.S. and internationally, we are relying on them to be leaders in shaping the slate.”
Founded in 2022, Closer Media is known for its work on Tony Goldwyn’s Ezra, Alex Gibney’s Paul Simon documentary In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Bhutanese Oscar entry The Monk and the Gun, and Justin Lin’s Last Days. Most recently, the company put out Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, with Mubi, as well as Raoul Peck’s doc Orwell: 2+2=5 via Neon. Upcoming projects include Alice Winocour’s Couture, starring Angelina Jolie, which premiered at TIFF, and Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk doc Musk for HBO Documentary Films and Universal Pictures Content Group.
