Anne Marie Varner is a seasoned content producer with extensive experience in creating, producing and commissioning factual television series, documentaries and drama productions.
Varner Productions Limited was created in 2008 and re-established in 2011 following her role as Vice President, Development at Frantic Films. Prior to starting her own company, Varner was Executive Producer of In House Programming at Discovery Channel Canada. While working for the internationally recognized broadcaster, Varner produced over 350 hours of compelling science programming through Discovery’s daily flagship science magazine show “Daily Planet” and a variety of in house specials which received many awards. The most notable is the Gemini Award nominated and New York Television Festival Award winning program “MegaWorld Germany” and the resulting series now being sold in the US and Europe. Varner also oversaw more than thirty-five hours of deadline driven content and a number of international specials which include titles such as “Retaking New York” and “Las Vegas: City without Limits”. In the 2008 season alone, Varner’s In House programming division at Discovery won a record 16 national and international awards for content excellence from organizations including World Fest Houston and The New York Television Festival.
Prior to her work with Discovery Canada, Anne-Marie Varner was Head of Original Production at Canwest Mediaworks, where she helped spearhead a major transition period within the organization. She had previously worked as Director of Canadian Production Specialty and Daytime for CanWest’s Global Television Network and was Executive Producer of the “Body and Health” and “Moneywise” series for 4 years. In her role at Canwest, Varner was also involved in the development of many drama projects and was instrumental in launching two prime time drama series, “Falcon Beach” and “The Jane Show”, for the Global and CH conventional channels.
Varner was recruited to Canwest in early 2000 from Halifax, where she ran her own film and television production and consulting firm and served three years as CEO of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation.
