Starz president of programming Carmi Zlotnik is leaving the company after nearly 10 years at the helm, the network confirmed Monday.

Zlotnik, who oversaw the development and production of such Starz hits as Power, Outlander and Vida, will leave his post by the end of the month to “pursue new creative endeavors,” according to network officials. Zlotnik will continue to consult with Starz to support the transition.

Carmi joined Starz in 2010 after a stint at IMG as head of operations for Global Media. While at Starz, he had a hand in developing several of the network’s biggest shows while fulfilling the network’s strategy of reaching under-served audiences. Along with African-American targeted Power and female skewing Outlander, Zlotnik also oversaw the development of such original shows as American Gods, The Girlfriend Experience, The White Queen, and Black Sails.

“Carmi’s track record speaks for itself. He has been a valued member of the Starz team for nearly a decade, helping to build the Starz original programming team and strategy from the ground up while also serving as a great creative partner, mentor and friend to so many,” said Jeffrey Hirsch, Starz president and CEO. “We remain grateful to Carmi for his contributions and commitment to Starz throughout his time here and wish him continued success in his next chapter.”

Premium service Starz has succeeded in part by creating original content targeting underserved audiences, from its most-watched series Power, targeting African-Americans, to its freshman hit Vida showcasing the Hispanic and LGBTQ communities. Starz president of programming Carmi Zlotnik recently spoke to Multichannel News about the network’s continuing efforts to offer quality, original programming to diverse audiences, as well as the challenges that cable networks face in an uncertain, changing television environment. Here’s an edited transcript of their conversation.

MCN: Is Starz where you want it to be at this moment with regards to the breadth and diversity of programming?
Carmi Zlotnik: I’m really proud of the programming that we have on the air, but it’s never at a point of being finished; it’s always a work in progress. We’re looking to mean more things to more people, and we’ve got a lineup of shows that has really worked in terms of our strategy of going after underserved audiences. We have Outlander, Power and American Gods that have all performed great. Vida and Sweet Bitter have been very targeted and reached their audiences. So now we’re looking at the next wave of programming and thinking about what the possibilities are for our channel, which seem limitless.

MCN: Who are some of the underserved audiences that haven’t been addressed by Starz’s current lineup?
CZ: One of the things we’re working on is The Continental, which is coming out of the John Wick universe, and we’re really excited to get a show that should have huge appeal across a broad spectrum. I think that’s also an important goal for our channel.

MCN: Power remains your most-watched show. Why does it continue to attract audiences?
CZ: It’s a great story with great casting and great execution. I think [creator and executive producer] Courtney Kemp has written complex characters in a world that has real consequences to it. When I think about the performances that are going on there, Omari [Hardwick] is just fantastic in the way that he can embrace this character of Ghost. I think Joe [Sikora] is a huge fan favorite. Lila [Loren] and Tori [Naturi Naughton] have their fan bases, and the way that the show has evolved in Courtney Kemp’s hands is just impressive to see. The story goes to places that you never thought possible, and even I as an executive who’s done a lot of TV am continually amazed at Courtney’s ability to write herself into a corner and then write her way out.

MCN: What challenges do networks continue to face in a very crowded and unpredictable environment?
CZ: I think the key is to differentiate. You’ve got to look at what everybody else is doing and then do something different. I think the key question you have to ask yourself is, “What have I not thought of? What is out there? What voice, what story, what character, what way of presenting and executing has not been tried?” You’ve got to continually push that edge.

Last month, Emmy Award-winning director Ava DuVernay — in accepting the NAACP Image Award for Entertainer of the Year — saluted by name several of her fellow African-American directors and producers currently helming cable, broadcast and streaming TV series, before stating a sentiment felt by most everyone in the packed Los Angeles auditorium: “This is our time.”

Arguably, at no point in the history of television has the influence of African-American women been felt so much, both in front of and behind the camera. Scripted series, movies and documentaries created by African-American women are making a lot of noise as the ranks of actresses, directors, writers and producers continue to increase across all platforms.

From DuVernay’s OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network-produced series Queen Sugar to HBO’s sophomore comedy show Insecure from star/producer Issa Rae to Courtney Kemp’s successful Starz series Power and Lena Waithe’s new Showtime drama The Chi — which received a second-season commitment last week — black women are getting a chance to tell their stories from the screen, the director’s chair and the writing room.

Related:Keeping TV One in Front on the Movement|Black History Month: What to Watch

‘Black Women Are Amazing’
“The world is catching up to what we knew all along; black women are amazing, and they create powerful characters on-screen,” Connie Orlando, executive vice president and head of programming for BET Networks, said. “It’s much more than a movement — I think the world is finally seeing the talent black women have, as well as the breadth of stories that we haven’t told yet and need to be told.”

Some of those African-American female-helmed shows have gone on to win hardware for their creators during the recent wave of industry awards shows.

• Along with her Image Awards accolade, DuVernay earned an Emmy Award last September for her Netflix documentary 13th.
• Waithe was the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series for her work on Netflix’s comedy series Master of None.
• Kemp’s Power took home three NAACP Image Awards, while Janine Sherman Barrois (TNT’s Claws) and Gina Prince-Bythewood (Fox’s Shots Fired) won Image Awards for outstanding writing.

Shows directed and produced by or featuring African-American women in lead roles continue to proliferate on the television landscape — and not just on African-American targeted networks BET and TV One.

General entertainment networks like WE tv, OWN, VH1 and Bravo have developed both scripted and reality content featuring black female stories and images — from Braxton Family Values to Greenleaf to Love & Hip Hop to Real Housewives of Atlanta, respectively — that have resonated with viewers across all demos.

“If this were 20 years ago, people would say, ‘Well, there’s Issa Rae, and that’s all we need,’ ” Phoebe Robinson, co-executive producer and co-host of HBO’s comedy special 2 Dope Queens, said. “But now Insecure can exist along with [theatrical film] Girls Night Out and 2 Dope Queens. This is a great time for creative content and I just think it will keep changing for the better.”

MCN Original Video: Content Spotlight on '2 Dope Queens'

And, as the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements continue to affect change within the entertainment industry, African-American women are increasing their own numbers on the small screen.

Black female actresses in speaking roles comprised 19% of all female lead roles during the 2016-17 TV season, up from 16% in 2015-16, according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

Black women were well-represented within the 13% of African-Americans directing television episodes during the 2016-17 season, part of a record 22% of all television episodes directed by people from ethnic minority groups during the period, according to the Directors Guild of America.

Actress China Anne McClain (Disney Channel’s Descendants 2) said she sees a change in the environment as more acting opportunities are becoming available to African-American actresses.

“I really hope it’s not just a trend,” said McClain, who currently stars in The CW’s superhero series Black Lightning. “I hope it’s a movement that’s actually changing because it’s very important to represent real life on television.”

MCN Original Video: One-on-One in 2 With China Anne McClain

The recent success of African-American women behind the scenes in particular has yielded unprecedented long-term development deals. In August 2017, Netflix shocked the television world by luring prolific showrunner Shonda Rhimes away from ABC — where she developed the network’s successful Thursday-night lineup of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder — and signing her to a multiyear production deal.

Starz last May signed Power creator Kemp to an exclusive, multiyear development deal. Starz programming president Carmi Zlotnik compared Kemp to veteran broadcast TV producer David E. Kelley — a “full-package” showrunner with multiple talents.

Heading into its fifth season this summer, Power — led by Kemp and co-creator Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — is not just the most watched show among African-American viewers on premium cable. It also is the third highest-rated premium show behind HBO’s Game of Thrones and Ballers, according to Starz.

Kemp “has transcended the role of writer to become a showrunner in the sense that she’s got the creative ability, she’s now got the management ability and she’s a great spokesperson for her show,” Zlotnik said. “Those three things make up the trifecta to me, and you don’t always get those altogether.”

Zlotnik said there will be more high-profile development deals with African-American female producers and directors similar to those for Kemp and Rhimes, as the industry looks to capitalize on the appeal of diverse stories and images.

“I think we’re going through a sea change where inclusion and empowerment are expectations, not special gifts,” the Starz executive said. “I think that it’s not just because the industry sees the social benefit, but I think they see the business benefit.”

That certainly rings true in looking at overall viewership trends for television content. Adult African-American women watch 51 hours, 36 minutes of television a week, well above the 36 hours, 38 minutes viewed by all adult women, per Nielsen’s recent African-American Diverse Intelligence Report.

Further, African-American women gravitate toward TV shows with celebrities or multidimensional characters of color, with all top-rated cable and broadcast shows among black women featuring either predominately black casts or a black lead.

Show like Fox’s Empire and OWN’s The Haves and The Have Nots, for example, rank among the top five highest-rated shows among the group, according to the report.

“This audience hadn’t been spoken to in the way that they’re being spoken to today,” said OWN president Erik Logan. “Reaching [African-American women] was one of the driving factors for why Oprah wanted to have a network, and I think if you look at the success that we’re having by talking to that audience and others are having by trying to speak to that audience as well, I don’t see that there’s going to be a day or time where that just goes away.”

OWN has three shows among the top 10 most-watched shows among black women during the 2016-17 season: The Haves and the Have Nots; the DuVernay/Winfrey-produced drama Queen Sugar; and If Loving You Is Wrong, according to Nielsen.

With other targeted shows like the drama Greenleaf, which features Winfrey in a recurring role, as well as OWN’s new relationship dramedy series Love Is ___, Logan said the network is well positioned to effectively reach an audience that distributors will continue to covet going forward.

“We now are creating content for a segment of women — specifically African-American women — who watch a lot of television and have not seen themselves on the screen in the way that they are seeing themselves now,” Logan said. “By continuing the relationship that we have with them and continuing to put programming on so that they can see themselves, it’s going to be one of the driving factors of OWN’s success in the coming years.”

BET last September rebranded its Centric TV network as BET Her, the first cable network primarily targeting African-American women. It’s the perfect platform to develop original content for that audience, including the return of the Queen Latifah-produced docuseries From the Bottom Up, Orlando said.

“It serves as the focal point for current events, given the moment that we’re in right now in entertainment with #MeToo, and we have big plans for the network’s original content,” Orlando said.

Lots of Project Activity Now
A number of projects created and produced by African-American women have recently launched or are slated to debut later this year on cable, including TV One’s documentary series Two Sides from Emmy award-winning actress Viola Davis, as well as upcoming projects from Power’s Kemp (ABC’s Get Christie Love), Mara Brock Akil (OWN’s Love Is ___) and Misha Green (HBO’s Lovercraft Country).

Also, the pool of talented African-American women actresses, producers, writers, directors and showrunners will also expand as opportunities open up on all platforms.

2 Dope Queens’s Robinson said that streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube are also providing opportunities for African-American women to showcase their talents. The 2 Dope Queens format, hosted by Robinson and Jessica Williams, started as a podcast before HBO picked it as a four-part special; part one debute on Feb. 2.

“What’s great is now instead of waiting for the gatekeepers to choose what goes in front of viewers, we have choices,” Robinson said.

Added BET’s Orlando: “Now that these women have a chance to tell their stories there’s no turning back because you can’t deny the quality and the commitment of these talented women in front of and behind the camera.”

National Basketball Association superstar LeBron James may not have been able to repeat as league champion on the basketball court last spring, but that didn’t stop him from having a championship-caliber year in the entertainment arena.

“The King,” through his SpringHill Entertainment production company founded by James and childhood friend Maverick Carter, took several major steps in helping to secure his legacy off the court in the entertainment business with a number of content projects that cut across both the traditional television business and emerging digital platforms.

While the clock officially ran out this year on SpringHill’s first scripted series — Starz’s basketball-themed Survivor’s Remorse— the company is poised to take several more shots in the genre. SpringHill is reportedly working with HBO on a half-hour comedy about a Los Angeles sneaker store; with ABC on a comedy dubbed White Dave, starring actress Gabrielle Union; and with CBS on a comedy revolving around a sports agency.

Related:MCN Sports Brand of the Year | At USTA, Adams More Than Holding Serve

James has also played on the unscripted court with his CNBC series Cleveland Hustles, which provided local entrepreneurs a chance to realize their dreams while revitalizing a Cleveland neighborhood. James also flexed his game show muscles earlier this year, partnering with NBC for The Wall, which has earned a second season after averaging more than 6 million viewers during its freshman run.

On the digital front, James and Carter have created a platform for athletes to express themselves creatively through the Uninterrupted online network, which in 2015 received a re-ported $15.8 million investment from Warner Bros. and Turner Sports.

Network executives said the entertainment future is bright for the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, now and when he finally hangs up his sneakers.

“LeBron James’s desire to excel in the entertainment industry is no surprise to those who have watched him work tirelessly to become a transcendent basketball player and NBA champion,” said Mark Tatum, NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer. “Television and movie executives view him not just as an athlete but as a creative force who has the ability to help shape popular culture.”

Related: Reality TV’s Got Game

Indeed, Carter was quoted in a February ESPN the Magazine article as saying he and James have their eyes on the prize of creating an entertainment empire.

“LeBron and I have always been interested in the long game,” Carter said in the story. "And the long game here is to build a media company. To really, truly build a media company."

James and Carter have begun to realize their entertainment aspirations by being aggressive and involved in all aspects of their projects. “From the first time I met LeBron and Maverick, it was clear that they saw media as a way to have an impact in society, and that a media company could help them to have that impact,” Starz president of programming Carmi Zlotnik said.

An All-Position Player
Arguably James and SpringHill’s highest-profile project to date is Survivor’s Remorse, which ended its fourth and final season last month. Zlotnik said he was initially impressed with the attention to detail James paid to the series, which follows the exploits of a pro basketball star and his family from humble beginnings as he transitions to a big pro-hoops star.

Zlotnik recalled that James was very hands-on with regard to the pilot script for the series. “The producers went to LeBron’s house and LeBron recruited friends and family to pick parts to read together from the pilot script,” he said. “I wish I could have been a fly on the wall because it sounds like one of those very interesting situations that happens in the development of a show that no one knows about.”

It also didn’t hurt the show’s marketing and promotion efforts to have the LeBron James brand associated with the series. “LeBron as a personality helped sell the show because it’s so hard to cut through the cacophony that’s happening out in the media space,” said Zlotnik. “The fact that he has this huge fan base in social media is an attractive part about being in business with LeBron, Maverick and SpringHill.”

NBC Entertainment president of alternative and reality group Paul Telegdy also said James’s star power helped build momentum for NBC’s game show The Wall, in which contestants build cash prizes by correctly answering questions. James’s popularity has also helped the network extend The Wall internationally.

“The Wall is on in France, Italy, Poland and is being made in Brazil,” Telegdy said. “The success of the show is more than just the business in the U.S.; it’s about the rollout of a global brand.”

James was also heavily involved with The Wall, making sure the presentation on the screen worked to the benefit of both NBC and the James brand, according to Telegdy.

“The great thing about the partnership is that if at any point he had seen something that he had hated or that was against his brand, we would have found out about it immediately — he’s not a shy, silent partner,” Telegdy said. “He is incredibly down to earth and easy to talk to, and was able to communicate passion and the reasons why he was involved in a game show in a way we could communicate to our audience.”

With The Wall and several other potential projects lined up — Zlotnik said Starz is working with SpringHill on an unscripted series, Warriors of Liberty City, which chronicles the town of Liberty City, Fla. and its ability to turn out a high percentage of NFL football players — Telegdy said it won’t be long before content distributors are knocking on James’s door for a chance to play on the entertainment court with one of the NBA’s best and most exciting players ever.

“Get in line now,” Telegdy added. “We weren’t the first people to spot his talents, but we feel like champions for being in business with LeBron.”

Starz and actor/producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson will develop a superhero vigilante series as part of an extended production deal between the two parties.

Jackson, who serves as executive producer of Starz’s hit series Power, will develop Tomorrow, Today, a drama about a veteran from the south side of Chicago who, after being falsely imprisoned, becomes the personal experiment of a mad prison doctor trying to create the perfect man – and an unstoppable killing machine. The prisoner eventually escapes and uses his newfound powers for good.

Anthony Cipriano (Bates Motel, 12 and Holding) and Dan Kay (I.T.) will executive produce Tomorrow, Today, with Kirkland Morris serving as producer, according to Starz.

The series extends Jackson’s existing overall deal with Starz another year, into September 2018, to develop new projects for the network with G-Unit Film & Television Inc.

“We’re excited to develop this series with Curtis to showcase his producing skills with this unique storyline,” said Carmi Zlotnik, managing director of Starz.

Premium cable network Starz has named original programming vice president Ken Segna a senior VP; he will remain based in Los Angeles.

Segna joins fellow original programming SVPs Marta Fernandez and Karen Bailey as Starz continues to ramp up its development slate.

Projects Segna is working on include the series Power, executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and creator/showrunner Courtney Kemp Agboh (The Good Wife); “Survivor’s Remorse,” which LeBron James is executive producing; The Girlfriend Experience, a 13-part anthology series executive produced by Steven Soderbergh; The One Percent, a 10-episode drama series from Academy Award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman); Counterpart, a supernatural thriller series starring Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash); and the series American Gods, FremantleMedia North America’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed urban fantasy novel of the same name.

Segna joined Starz in 2010 as an executive assistant and was named an original programming vice president last June. Prior to Starz, he was with Creative Artists Agency.

Segna also has a background as an independent producer of music videos, commercials and the well received feature documentary Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm, about the legendary drummer for The Band who hailed from Turkey Scratch, Ark., and lived in Woodstock, N.Y., as he made the 2007 Grammy-winning album Dirt Farmer, his first studio album in 25 years. Helm passed away in 2012 after a long battle with throat cancer, part of which is chronicled in the 2010 film.

“Ken is an incredibly valued member of the original programming team who has been a key contributor in expanding Starz Original series programming,” Carmi Zlotnik, Starz managing director, said.