She replaces Peter Smith, who stepped down last week Wayne brings ‘wealth of international expertise,’ group CEO Sam Barnett says LONDON: MBC Group on Friday announced the appointment of Christina Wayne as the new managing director of its production arm, MBC Studios. Group CEO Sam Barnett said the company was “incredibly excited” by the appointment. “Christina brings with her a wealth of international expertise in content development and production where she has worked across a multitude of territories and languages, and led on the development of Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning series,” he said. “We look forward to her building on the team’s successes as we continue to expand our horizons in international content even further.” Wayne is a seasoned executive and producer with more than 25 years of international experience writing, directing and producing TV shows and films. Before joining MBC Studios, she was principal creative executive and head of Canada and Australia at Amazon Studios, a position she had held since 2019. A member of the Writers Guild of America since 1997, Wayne has also held positions with Assembly Entertainment, Cineflix Studios and AMC, and worked on a host of award-winning productions, including “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and “Broken Trail.” “I am absolutely delighted to join MBC Group and MBC Studios and have heard great things about the incredible team Peter and the rest of MBC have built,” she said. “This is a very exciting venture for me, and I cannot wait to get fully involved in one of the world’s most exciting territories for content production.” Wayne takes over from Peter Smith, who stepped down last week after four years at the helm of MBC Studios. During that time he helped launch the production arm of the free-to-air network MBC and led numerous flagship Arabic-language productions. Building on Smith’s legacy, Wayne will continue to push into premium non-English-language TV programming and broaden the reach of MBC Group’s content to consumers worldwide.