MEET THE TEAM
Different paths. A shared purpose. One bigger table.
Jennifer Maloney-Prezioso and Rachelle Fender founded Next Table Entertainment & Media from two very different worlds but were united by a shared belief: that great stories have the power to connect us — and that the stories and storytellers deserving of the opportunity to reach the world should not be limited by who has traditionally been given a seat at the table.
Through her work as an international humanitarian and high-net-worth fundraiser, Rachelle spent years helping create opportunities for girls and women on the ground in Africa whose voices and stories too often went unheard. She helped give them a microphone.
Jennifer, a Tony and Emmy Award-winning producer, understood the extraordinary power of storytelling — and the unparalleled reach of entertainment and media. Together, they recognized what was possible when those two worlds came together. What if you could take that microphone and plug it into one of the largest amplifiers in the world?
Entertainment.
That question became Next Table Entertainment & Media — a women-founded, women-led company built to create a bigger table for voices and stories that have too often been overlooked, while developing and owning enduring entertainment intellectual property with the power to reach audiences, travel across platforms, and grow in value over time.
There are extraordinary stories and storytellers that the entertainment industry has historically undervalued. Next Table’s founders believe many have the potential to become world-class entertainment for global audiences.
Next Table was built on a simple belief: when we expand who gets to create, we expand what is possible. We believe that making room for a bigger table isn’t just good for audiences — it’s good business. The future of entertainment isn’t built by protecting the same table — it’s built by making room for a bigger one.
MEET THE TEAM
A PROBLEM WORTH SOLVING
Extraordinary talent is everywhere. Opportunity isn’t.
For too long, the entertainment industry has determined which stories get developed, financed, and brought to audiences through a relatively narrow set of gatekeepers. As a result, extraordinary creators and world-class stories—particularly those from historically overlooked voices—too often never receive the opportunity to reach their full potential.
At Next Table Entertainment & Media, we believe this is both an industry problem and a business opportunity.
We believe stories have the power to connect us. The most personal experiences can become universal, bringing audiences together across generations, backgrounds, and borders.
That’s why we’re building a bigger table.
Next Table finds, develops, and champions extraordinary stories and creators, building them into premium, enduring entertainment IP designed to grow across theatre, television, film, publishing, music, live experiences, and beyond.
Our goal is not simply to produce individual projects, but to build valuable entertainment assets with the potential to reach new audiences, expand across platforms and markets, and create lasting cultural and financial value.
Because making the table bigger isn’t simply the right thing to do. We believe it’s how extraordinary stories reach the world—and how enduring value is created.
SEE OUR PROJECTS
GET INVOLVED
Do you want to support our mission? We welcome allies and supporters who share our vision of amplifying diverse voices in entertainment. While we can’t take unsolicited material, we welcome the chance to meet with collaborators for future development.
**NO UNSOLICITED PROJECT SUBMISSIONS**
REACH OUTA SEAT AT THE TABLE
By The Numbers
In 2023, women accounted for 27% of the nominees for the main non-acting categories at the Academy Awards, down from 32% a year earlier.
Not a single woman was nominated for an Oscar in the Directing (Best Director) category in 2023.
Only two women were among the best-paid actors worldwide as of August 2021.
The roster of best-paid actors lacks cultural and intergenerational diversity and representation of more voices.
A 2022 report found that 38.6% of lead actors in films in the United States that year were female. A decade earlier, the share stood at 25.6%.
Throughout the second half of the 2010s, not more than 30% of Academy Award-winning movies had a female lead actor.
The latest reports on gender diversity among U.S. movie directors revealed that women made up less than 22% of all directors in the country in 2021.
No women are featured among the 20 highest-grossing directors worldwide.
The percentage of women directing top-grossing films even declined in 2021 after reaching historic highs in 2020.
In 2019, 10.6% of film directors in Hollywood were women, marking a huge jump from the 4.5% reported in the previous year.
In 2008, 8% of directors in the U.S. movie industry were female, but in 2013 and 2014 the share dropped to below two.
In 2022, 27% of movie writers in the United States were women - a slight decrease in comparison to the previous year.
The share of female film directors in the U.S. decreased in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Women accounted for one-third of all persons eligible to vote for the Oscars in 2022.
In 2022, less than 30% of the nominees for non-acting categories at the Academy Awards were female.
The distribution of employees in the broadcasting industry in the United States in 2022, by gender are 61.2% Men, 38.8% Women.
Share of female employees in behind-the-scenes jobs on broadcast network programs in the US in the 2021-22 season, by role: Writers – 36%, Executive Producers – 29%, Creators – 29%, Editors – 23%, Directors – 18%, Directors of Photography – 16%
Between 1980 and 2022, there have been 11 female nominees and 208 male nominees for the Golden Globe Best Director Award.
In the 2017-2018 season, 25.4% of episodic TV directors on broadcast, cable and streaming services were female, up from 14.6% between 2012 and 2013.
92% of the winners of the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical between 1982-2015 were male.
Over the last five years, only 28% of commercial Broadway plays or musicals had women lead producers.
As of 2020 on Broadway, women account for 17% of behind-the-scenes talent.
As of 2022, musical theatre is curiously male-dominated – male musical theatre writers outnumber women nine to one in the UK
As of 2022, only 13% of Broadway shows are written by women, with non-binary writers and composers so underrepresented that they are statistically insignificant.
As of 2018, plays on Broadway authored by men constitute 57% of all productions, down from 62% last year.
As of 2018, plays by women comprise 30%, up from last year's 26 (plays co-written by men and women take up the slack, this year comprising 13%).