In what feels like a pretty significant move for the studio, Lucasfilm has hired Momita SenGupta as Executive Vice President of Physical Production, according to a report from Deadline on Friday.
SenGupta previously worked as the VP of Production at Netflix, and before that was the EVP of Prodcution at Viacom, so she has worked in similar roles previously at massive companies. As such, she seems incredibly qualified to take over a similar role at Lucasfilm, and in her role Deadline says she “will report directly to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and lead all aspects of productions, including physical production, post production, visual effects and production finance.”
Presumably, then, she will become one of the highest-ranking and most influential executives at Lucasfilm. A quick glance at the Lucasfilm leadership team suggests that SenGupta will work very closely and seemingly oversee a number of significant people and departments at the company, helping to spearhead and oversee the physical production side of things.
It makes a lot of sense for Kennedy to hire someone in this role, considering just how many projects will fit into that category in the near future. Upwards of ten new Star Wars series are in development, new Star Wars films will be coming in a few years, a Willow series is coming to Disney+, a fifth Indiana Jones film will be released in 2022, and an adaptation of the novel Children of Blood & Bone is also in the works for the studio. That’s a lot of projects, and that just includes the physical production side of things. Bringing in an experienced and qualified person to oversee all of that and report directly to Kennedy makes sense.
And given just how central of a role it is, it likely will make SenGupta one of the most influential people at Lucasfilm, responsible for overseeing all the details for different projects and keeping the bigger picture in mind.
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