The Woman Who Is Remaking AMC
The most immediately noticeable thing about AMC’s offices in Midtown Manhattan is a glass case stuffed full of awards, displayed prominently by reception. The second is a giant model of Jodie Whittaker as the British sci-fi character Doctor Who, constructed entirely out of Lego bricks. With both hands in her plastic pockets, the first female Time Lord in the series’ 57-year history stares nonchalantly at anyone coming or going.
The Lego doctor represents more than one changing of the guard. In late 2018, around the same time that Whittaker’s first episode debuted, Sarah Barnett was hired as the president of entertainment networks at AMC and its three sister channels, BBC America, Sundance TV, and IFC. In her previous roles running Sundance TV, where she debuted a spate of critical hits including and , and BBC America, where she commissioned Phoebe Waller-Bridge to create , the British-born Barnett had demonstrated an uncanny eye for spotting both talent and fiercely unconventional ideas. She’s now one of the most powerful people in the industry—and one of only a handful of women at the helm of a major TV brand—but the task in front of her is imposing. “The bubble of content, and the amount of money people are spending, is like a fire hose right now,” she told me in an interview late last year. “It’s really exciting and really perilous and an odd
