Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment and Warner Bros Production, has taken a leave of absence starting on April 2.
Nelson has been part of DC for 22 years. She first took over DC in 2009, and since then “the comic book publisher has partnered with Studio colleagues on the development of television projects, feature films, blockbuster video games, as well as a host of other impressive headline-making initiatives – all sparking Advertising Age to name DC Entertainment one of America’s Hottest Brands,” according to dcentertainment.com.
The reason for taking a leave of absence is because she wanted “recharge, as well as have immediate and uninterrupted time with her family,” said Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Kevin Tsujihara in a memo, according to variety.com.
“I think it’s well deserved. She did put in a lot of work she deserves a leave of absence. I don’t think it’ll affect that much considering she’s still the president. So she will have to approve and disapprove of projects. I don’t think it’ll have a serious effect. Plus the comics she oversees are ending anyways … I just hope they keep on putting strong female leads in movies and TV shows and cartoons, because she was really big about that,” Brandi Kemp, a Delta student.
Another reason being she wanted to fully recover from a back surgery she went through in the past year, according to Hollywoodreporter.com.
Tsujihara said this was her decision he and the entire senior management team support it.
According to the memo provided on variety.com: “Thomas Gewecke, who serves as chief digital officer and executive VP of strategy and business development at Warner Bros., will step in to support the DC executive management team of Dan DiDio, Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, and Amit Desai, who will continue to run the company’s day-to-day.”
Zianni Perilla, a student, has her own thoughts on the subject as well, on whether or not the company can continue without her.
“I think if a council is put into order of her most trusted advisors or a team she assembles to run in her absence, things should be fine. I just hope she doesn’t lose her job, but I support her decision because family is everything. I think this will definitely test the company as a whole.
It’s like a pyramid built up, if you take the top brick off, the rest should still hold because a solid foundation is already set and there are other bricks that make up the company that hold it together. So if they can’t get their shit together without her then it’s kinda like what are they doing? I am assuming it will continue forward without her … it has to.”
According to the memo, Nelson will return in the future to DC Entertainment, but there is no date of her return just yet.