Skip to main content
Apr 30, 2020

Skydance Media hires first general counsel

Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon previously worked at VICE Media

Skydance Media, the company behind movies including the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, has boosted its in-house legal team with the recruitment of Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon to the newly created position of general counsel and the promotion of Jun Oh to president of global business and legal affairs. McKinnon and Oh both report to Skydance Media president and COO Jesse Sisgold.

McKinnon is tasked with providing legal and strategic guidance on major corporate transactions such as acquisitions, financing and joint ventures, and oversees corporate governance and employment matters.

Oh was previously head of theatrical and interactive business affairs. He now has television and animation responsibilities and leads all business and legal affairs for the company related to the development, production and distribution of Skydance’s content divisions.

McKinnon previously worked at VICE Media where she was senior vice president and deputy general counsel, overseeing legal issues involving VICE’s strategic projects such as international expansion, joint ventures, market entry, investments, equity raises and acquisitions.

Before that, she was vice president for legal and business affairs at Whistle Sports, a role in which she also dealt with the compliance, insurance and human resources functions. She began her legal career at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.

Oh joined Skydance in 2018 as head of theatrical and interactive business and legal affairs and has been involved with the company’s film deals and this year’s $275 million equity partnership deal between Skydance, RedBird Capital and CJ ENM. He was previously president of business and legal affairs for Global Road Entertainment (now Open Road Films) and worked at Warner Bros Entertainment.

David Ellison founded Skydance in 2010. It has feature film, television, interactive and animation divisions. The company’s upcoming feature films include the seventh and eighth installments of the Mission: Impossible series, and its television shows include Grace and Frankie, Altered Carbon and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.

‘I could not be more pleased to welcome Stephanie and to congratulate Jun!’ Sisgold says in a statement. ‘Stephanie’s legal acumen and strategic mind will play an important role as we continue to expand our global capacity while running our operations at the highest functional and ethical standards. And Jun has proven quickly that he is an extraordinary executive and dealmaker and is incredibly deserving of this expanded role.’

Ben Maiden

Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...