Sean Mills is stepping down from his post as head of original content at Snap and will leave the company after six years with Snapchat’s parent.
Taking over the post will be Vanessa Guthrie, Snap’s content director, who will now be in charge of Snap Originals and report to Ben Schwerin, who was named Snap’s senior vice president of content and partnerships earlier this year.
“During his time with us, Sean has played an integral role in conceptualizing our content offerings and building our Discover content program into a successful business for our many partners, and a critical source of factual news, information and entertainment for hundreds of millions of Snapchatters,” a Snap spokesperson said.
Mills started at Snap in 2015 following stints as president of NowThis and almost 10 years at The Onion. He spearheaded Snap’s first original series, Good Luck America, which debuted around the 2016 U.S. election. Among the more than 125 original series launched by Snap since then are Ryan Doesn’t Know with Ryan Reynolds and Will From Home with Will Smith.
“Sean has graciously agreed to stay on and help with the transition until September — and while we will miss him tremendously, we’re excited to see what he tackles next,” the Snap spokesperson said. According to Snap, its Originals have been viewed by more than 85% of the U.S. Gen Z population.
Taking over for Mills, Guthrie’s leadership team will include Anjuli Millan, who oversees production and operations for Snap Originals; Erin Keating, who’s in charge of scripted Snap Originals; Jill Dickerson, who oversees unscripted Snap Originals; and Amanda Krentzman, in charge of international Originals.
“Originals will continue to be a core priority for us, both as we deepen our content offerings for Snapchatters and as we continue to expand internationally,” the company said.