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About Concordia Studio

Concordia is a talent-first studio, founded by Oscar-winning director, Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth” and “Waiting for Superman”) and award-winning producer, Jonathan King (“Spotlight”), in partnership with Laurene Powell Jobs and Emerson Collective. Concordia Studio formally launched in 2020 to finance, develop, produce, and deliver the most compelling stories with today’s forward-thinking creators.

In addition to producing nonfiction and narrative film and television, Concordia is dedicated to diversifying the documentary landscape through The Concordia Fellowship. Concordia’s unique artist-in-residency program was created to support up-and-coming, diverse filmmakers. One of Concordia’s first Fellows, Garrett Bradley, went on to produce and direct the documentary film, “Time” which won several high profile accolades including an award at Sundance in 2020, where it sold to Amazon, won a Peabody Award, and was later nominated for an Academy Award.

Concordia debuted several other films at Sundance that year including landing a record-breaking deal for Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s, “Boys State” which also won the Sundance Grand Jury award. Ramona S. Diaz’s “A Thousand Cuts,” garnered critical acclaim, earning both Gotham and Peabody Awards.

The recently acclaimed Concordia production, “STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” a feature film about the life of beloved actor and advocate Michael J. Fox was directed by Davis Guggenheim and has garnered a record seven Emmy nominations this year. STILL will compete for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 2023 Emmy Awards. Concordia also produced the recent Netflix release, “WORKING: What We Do All Day,” providing intimate behind-the-scenes portraits of people’s lives and work. The series is executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, directed by Caroline Suh, and received a 2023 Emmy nomination as well.

Other award-winning nonfiction titles produced by the Studio include the 2022 Academy Award winner, “Summer Of Soul (…or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson; Robert Greene’s 2022 Academy shortlisted and Peabody nominated, “Procession”; “Homeroom” directed by Peter Nicks and winner of the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award for U.S. Documentary; “At The Ready” directed by Maisie Crow; and Emelie Mahdavian’s “Bitterbrush”, soon-to-be-released by Magnolia Pictures.

Concordia’s current slate of premium documentary films in production includes “The Enfield Poltergeist,” a nonfiction horror series profiling The Enfield Poltergeist of 1977, for released on AppleTV+ later this year; and “Navajo Police: Class 57,” offering an immersive look at the Navajo Nation Police Department and modern reservation life, scheduled for release on HBO in October 2023.

Executive Team

Davis Guggenheim

Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Nonfiction

Davis Guggenheim is a critically acclaimed, Academy Award-winning director and producer.

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Jonathan King

Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Narrative

Jonathan King is Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Narrative at Concordia Studio. Most recently, King produced SWAN SONG, written and directed by Benjamin Cleary and starring Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali

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Lori Rovner

President and Chief Operating Officer

As President and Chief Operating Officer at Concordia, Lori sets and executes the overall strategic business plan for the company while managing key operations across its divisions.

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Lizzie Fox

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NONFICTION​

Lizzie Fox is Executive Vice President and leads the development and production of premium feature docs and non-scripted series at Concordia.

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Ash Sarohia

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, Narrative​

Ash oversees Concordia’s scripted content development and production and he is passionate about working with creative forces to empower bold voices that need to be heard.

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Rahdi Taylor

Executive Vice President, The Concordia Fellowship

Rahdi Taylor is Executive Vice President at Concordia Studio, where she designs and directs The Concordia Fellowship to catalyze transformative, career building opportunity for highly select, diverse US documentary storytellers.

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Davis Guggenheim

Founder, Chief Creative Officer of Nonfiction

Davis Guggenheim is a critically acclaimed, Academy Award-winning director and producer.  Since 2006, he is the only filmmaker to direct and produce three distinct films ranking in the top 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time (An Inconvenient Truth, It Might Get Loud, and Waiting for “Superman”). 

The film, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, produced and directed by Guggenheim and featuring former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2007. 

Davis also directed several films on behalf of former U.S. President Barack Obama, including the President’s biographical film broadcast during the 2008 Democratic National Convention; the October 2008 Obama infomercial receiving cinematic praise from The New York Times; and The Road We’ve Traveled, a 17-minute short film on the President, released in 2012.  Davis also directed the 2020 Democratic National Convention film for President Joe Biden. 

In 2019, Davis created and directed the celebrated Netflix documentary miniseries, INSIDE BILL’S BRAIN: DECODING BILL GATES. He also produced and directed the 2015 documentary film, HE NAMED ME MALALA, highlighting the activism and work of Malala Yousafzai, the world’s youngest Nobel Prize laureate.  

Guggenheim’s documentary, WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” received the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Audience Award for best documentary just two years after he released, IT MIGHT GET LOUD, a documentary offering a glimpse into the lives of guitarists, Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White.

Davis previously served as producer and director of the Emmy Award-winning HBO series, DEADWOOD, in 2004.  Other television directing credits for Guggenheim include episodes of THE SHIELD, ALIAS, 24, NYPD BLUE, ER, and THE UNIT (pilot episode). 

More recent notable nonfiction projects executive produced by Davis include:  SUMMER OF SOUL, BOYS STATE, TIME, A THOUSAND CUTS, and WHERE’S MY ROY COHN? 

Davis Guggenheim founded Concordia Studio in Venice, CA in 2017. He is the Chief Creative Officer of the Nonfiction division.

Jonathan King

Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Narrative

Jonathan King is Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Narrative at Concordia Studio. Most recently, King produced SWAN SONG, written and directed by Benjamin Cleary and starring Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali, and STILLWATER, written and directed by Academy Award-winner Tom McCarthy and starring Matt Damon.

Prior to Concordia, King was President of Narrative Film and Television at Participant. Over the course of 12 years at Participant, King built a diverse slate of almost 50 feature films, including the 2019 Best Picture winner GREEN  BOOK, Alfonso Cuaron’s multiple Academy Award winning ROMA, 2017 sleeper hit WONDER, the 2016 Best Picture winner SPOTLIGHT, as well as CONTAGION, LINCOLN, BEASTS OF NO NATION, THE HELP, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, DEEPWATER HORIZON, and A MOST VIOLENT YEAR. In 2012, he launched Participant’s effort into making films in Latin America, which produced Pablo Larrain’s prize-winning films NO and NERUDA, and Sebastian Lelio’s 2018 Academy Award-winner A FANTASTIC WOMAN. King also produced the Emmy Award-winning limited television series WHEN THEY SEE US, created and directed by Ava DuVernay.

Throughout his 25 years in the film industry, King has worked as both an independent producer and an executive for companies including Focus Features and Miramax Films. He started his career in MGM’s New York office, scouting books, theater, and independent films.

Lori Rovner

President and Chief Operating Officer

As President and Chief Operating Officer, Lori sets and executes the overall business plan for the company, while managing key operations across each division. She provides strategic and legal guidance on corporate transactions and financing.  She also oversees deal negotiations and general BLA for Concordia’s narrative and nonfiction slates.

Prior to joining the company, Lori was Executive Vice President and Head of Business & Legal Affairs for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s, Imagine Entertainment. There she led Imagine’s business unit operations and deal-making ventures across Film and Television, Documentary, Kids + Family, Brands, International, Television Studios, and Artist Management divisions. She also managed the company’s legal strategy, policy and compliance matters.

Previously, Lori spent several years at David Ellison’s Skydance Media, having been the company’s first business affairs executive hire.  She rose to SVP and Deputy General Counsel, ultimately serving as Skydance’s chief in-house corporate counsel while managing all business & legal affairs for the live action and animated television divisions. Lori was instrumental in spearheading the business strategy and operational execution for all seven seasons of Netflix’s Emmy® award-winning series, “Grace & Frankie”.

Lori has also held posts at Fox 21 Television Studios, Lionsgate Entertainment, and began her career as a litigator. She earned a BA with Honors from the University of California at Berkeley and a Juris Doctorate from USC Gould School of Law. She has been recognized in Variety’s Legal Impact Report® and Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition®.

Lizzie Fox

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NONFICTION

Lizzie Fox is Executive Vice President and leads the development and production of premium feature docs and non-scripted series at Concordia.

Prior to joining Concordia, Lizzie was SVP at HBOMax overseeing documentary features, docuseries and specials. She has worked extensively with prestigious creators and brands, and her distinctive slate highlighted new voices and underrepresented audiences, spanning a broad range of compelling stories including The Way Down, a five-part series examining the controversial Remnant Fellowship Church; The Fastest Woman on Earth, chronicling the extraordinary life of professional racer and TV personality Jessi Combs; and LFG, an inside account of United States women’s national team’s ongoing fight for equal pay.

Lizzie also supervised nostalgic event specials touting the top-performing Friends reunion, The West Wing special benefitting Michelle Obama’s “When We All Vote,” and Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.

Previously, Lizzie was Vice President of Original Series at CNN, and managed the production of over 40 original non-fiction series including Peabody and Emmy Award®-winning series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Emmy® award-winning series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, and The Sixties, among others. Lizzie was recognized in The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation of Rising Executives in 2018 and in Variety’s New Leaders in Hollywood in 2020.

Ash Sarohia

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, Narrative

Ash Sarohia is Executive Vice President overseeing Concordia’s scripted content development and production, and reporting to the division’s Chief Creative Officer, Jonathan King. Ash is passionate about working with creative forces and empowering bold voices that need to be heard.

Previously, Ash worked alongside award-winning writer/director Cathy Yan (BIRDS OF PREY, DEAD PIGS) and co-founded their production banner Rewild Media, overseeing the Film & TV slate including THE FRESHENING for FilmNation / Adam McKay’s HyperObject Industries, and event-series PAPRIKA for Amazon. Ash also served as a producer at prolific genre-focused production company HIVEMIND (THE WITCHER, THE EXPANSE).

Recently, Ash has developed, packaged and set TV series at FX Networks, Apple+, Amazon Studios, Searchlight Television, Annapurna Studios, Conde-Nast & Vanity Fair Studios, and feature films at A24, Netflix and FilmNation. Ash is an Indian-American executive and producer who began his career at Universal Pictures & Paradigm Talent Agency and is a graduate of Princeton University. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Jessie Dicovitsky and their shepherd-husky Graham Cracker.

Rahdi Taylor

Executive Vice President, The Concordia Fellowship

Rahdi Taylor is Executive Vice President at Concordia Studio, where she designs and directs The Concordia Fellowship to catalyze transformative, career building opportunity for highly select, diverse US documentary storytellers. She spent 10 years at Sundance Institute as Director of the Sundance Documentary Fund, awarding financing and creative support to documentary films globally. Films supported include Academy Award nominees Minding the Gap, Hale County, Fathers and Sons, StrongIsland, Last Men in Aleppo, I am Not Your Negro, The Look of Silence, Cartel Land, CITIZENFOUR, TheSquare, Dirty Wars, Invisible War, How To Survive a Plague, If a Tree Falls: The Story of the EarthLiberation Front, and Trouble the Water. Additional films supported include Shirkers, 306 Hollywood, 93 Queen, and United Skates. She enjoys leading field-wide interventions, and designed and directed theDocumentary Core Application. She also created the Doc Film Money Map, a tool to catalyze nonfiction filmmakers to use state tax incentives for indie doc financing. Prior to Sundance, Taylor worked in film distribution at California Newsreel in San Francisco, and in artist/project development at Women MakeMovies in New York. She serves frequently in the field as a juror, panelist and industry advisor for international film festivals, funding panels, and pitch forums.

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