Legendary Entertainment’s IP chief joins Sipur

Legendary Entertainment’s Deborah Kaufmann has been appointed as chief of global content at Bad Boy and We Will Dance Again producer Sipur Studios. 

Kaufmann will lead development and oversee projects in the pipeline, with a focus on identifying premium IP for audiences worldwide, as well as acquisitions and creative partnerships across film, TV and publishing.

She joins Sipur having spent more than a decade as senior vice president of literary affairs at Legendary, where she oversaw all IP acquisitions for the company’s film and TV divisions, along with its European joint ventures, securing deals for properties including Alchemised and Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War.

Emilio Schenker, chief exec of Sipur, said: “Deborah brings to us unmatched talent, achievement and industry stature, and with her addition to our team we have gained tremendous strength in realizing our broader ambition of becoming a significant global film and television studio.”

Kaufman described Sipur as “a destination studio for some of the most brilliant creative minds in storytelling” and said she was looking forward to working with former Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone, who recently joined as chair.

“I look forward to building on these impressive achievements and bringing my deep commitment to cross-cultural storytelling to further champion the company’s bold and original work, which has already positioned Sipur as a true tastemaker on the global stage.”

Sipur’s slate includes scripted shows such as Bad boy for Netflix, Hagai Levi’s World War II series Etty and music-driven co-production Mirame Asi - El Camino de Noa, starring pop star Noa Kirel and Argentine talent Agustin Bernasconi, while its factual offerings include Yariv Mozer’s Emmy Award-winning 7 October doc We Will Dance Again.

On the feature side, Sipur has partnered on Paul Schrader’s latest feature, Oh Canada, and pushed into horror with the Cristin Milioti-starrer Buddy.