Marvel TV Exec Mark Ambrose Joins BOOM! Studios as Head of Television

Former Marvel Television executive Mark Ambrose is joining BOOM! Studios as its new Head of Television and senior vice president, according to Deadline. Ambrose is leading the company’s efforts to adapt its original comics and graphic novels into television series under the publisher’s first-look deal with Netflix. He’ll also source new intellectual property to develop as comics or graphic novels and later adapt to television for the Netflix deal, or into movies under the publisher’s first-look feature deal with 20th Century Studios. As Head of Television, Ambrose reports to BOOM! Studios President of Development Stephen Christy.

Ambrose will be familiar with working with Netflix from his time working as a Marvel Television executive, developing titles including Marvel’s Jessica Jones and Marvel’s The Punisher. He was also a Co-Executive Producer on Marvel’s Runaways on Hulu and X-Men series The Gifted on Fox and a studio executive on FX’s X-Men series Legion. Before joining Marvel, Ambrose worked at 20th Century Fox TV for 11 years, exiting with the title of Assistant to VP, Drama Development.

“It is exciting to have a seasoned veteran TV exec from the biggest comic book publisher, Marvel Entertainment, who supervised and launched shows with the biggest streamer, come over to BOOM! to build a deep, engaging slate with his former stomping grounds, Netflix,” said BOOM! Founder and CEO Ross Richie. “This is exactly what we need to get to the next level and strengthen what was already an aggressive translational strategy. Mark was one of the executives at 20th Century Fox Television who supervised our TV deal so he knows what it’s like to be on the studio side. He translated comics into TV shows multiple times successfully at Marvel. Mark checks the boxes for us in many many categories and Stephen and I are thrilled to have him onboard.”

In recent years, BOOM! Studios has become a publisher to watch when it comes to exciting original series. It’s had a string of successful launches with YA horror series Something is Killing the Children, modern Arthurian fantasy remix Once & Future, and its most recent debut, last week’s Seven Secrets. It is also home to Giant Days, the critically-acclaimed slice-of-life comic about college students.

There’s more on the way too. In September, BOOM! will launch its next original property, the epic sci-fi series We Only Find Them When They’re Dead. BOOM! also recently announced BRZRKR, a new series co-written by Keanu Reeves. It sold the graphic novel Snow Blind to Apple, with Jake Gyllenhaal producing and starring. Its R.L. Stine graphic novel series Just Beyond landed at Disney+ with an eight-episode order. The graphic novel Memetic is in the works as a film from Lionsgate.

“I have had tremendous respect for the brand that Ross and Stephen have built at Boom since we first began working together during my time at 20th,” said Ambrose. “As a comic fan, I’ve watched this company consistently release groundbreaking books from the most highly sought-after writers and artists in the industry. I could not be more excited about the opportunity to work with this talented group of people, and to have a chance to collaborate again with the great team at Netflix through our first-look deal.”