Searchlight Pictures’ Publicity VP Diana Loomis Leaves

Searchlight Pictures vice president of national publicity Diana Loomis is leaving the studio after nearly 20 years, TheWrap has confirmed.

Loomis, who began at the studio back in 2006 (her first movie was “Little Miss Sunshine”) and previously served as head of the studio’s East Coast office, will leave at the end of the summer following her work on Searchlight titles “Flamin’ Hot,” “Theater Camp” and “Poor Things.” She will then launch a consulting operation specializing in theatrical and streaming releases, and awards campaigns for movie studios and streaming companies.

During her tenure at Searchlight, Loomis worked on the campaigns for five Best Picture Oscar winners – “Slumdog Millionaire,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Birdman,” “The Shape of Water” and “Nomadland.” Additionally, she worked on the rollout of more recent awards favorites like “The Banshees and Inisherin” and “Nightmare Alley.”

Before joining Searchlight (then known as Fox Searchlight), she worked in national publicity for DreamWorks Pictures from 1997 to 2006. Loomis was with DreamWorks when their first movies launched in 1997 (“The Peacemaker” was the first movie, followed by “Amistad” and “Mouse Hunt”). While at DreamWorks she also worked on the campaigns for some of the studio’s most iconic movies, including “Shrek,” “American Beauty” and “Gladiator.”

She had known DreamWorks co-head Jeffrey Katzenberg from Disney, where she worked from PR coordinator to vice president during a time when the company was transformed from a family company to a global behemoth. She worked on campaigns for Disney as well as its more adult-skewering offshoots Touchstone Pictures (founded in 1984 by Ron Miller months before Michael Eisner and Frank Wells took over) and Hollywood Pictures.  

Of course, she would work for Disney once again after the company completed its acquisition of 21^st Century Fox’s assets in 2019.

Variety first reported Loomis’ exit.