Warner Bros. Discovery and Legendary Veterans Team Up With Renowned Heartland Strategist to Launch New Premium Content Studio Focused on Overlooked Audiences

KANSAS CITY, MO / LOS ANGELES – Twin Pines Entertainment officially launched today as a premium film and television studio built to serve America's Heartland audience – over 200 million strong yet often overlooked by Hollywood. Backed by private equity fund Boardwalk Capital, the company will produce scripted and unscripted content drawn from both traditional and emerging creators.

Twin Pines was founded by twin brothers Clint Kisker and Sean Kisker alongside Jason Kander, all Midwestern natives with complementary backgrounds spanning entertainment, public leadership and sports. Clint Kisker serves as Chief Executive Officer, Sean Kisker as Head of Entertainment, and Kander as Head of Business Development. Clint and Sean have spent decades building and scaling premium entertainment platforms, and Kander is a leading authority on Heartland culture. The trio co-founded Twin Pines to help shape Heartland projects rooted in place, leadership, and community identity.

“We're a storytelling company built to bring America's overlooked middle to the world. For more than a generation, our culture had two coasts and a blank space between them – 50 years worth of content nobody bothered to option,” Clint Kisker said. “The Heartland has incredible subcultures, fandoms and stories that resonate with audiences globally. We deliberately approach premium storytelling from that core belief.”

Clint Kisker has held senior leadership roles at Legendary Entertainment, where he served as EVP Business Development under Thomas Tull, and at Madison Wells Media, which he co-founded with Gigi Pritzker, serving as President overseeing the company's expansion across film, television, live theater, interactive media, and digital content. Sean Kisker previously served as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Otter Media, where he oversaw the $1.2 billion sale of Crunchyroll to Sony and the $900 million sale of Hello Sunshine to Candle Media, and as a founding executive and Chief Strategy Officer of HBO Max. He has held additional senior roles at Warner Bros. Discovery, WarnerMedia, Annapurna Pictures, and Lionsgate. Kander is a New York Times bestselling author, former Missouri Secretary of State, nationally recognized civic leader and Afghanistan veteran.

“Most entertainment investment follows the coasts and chases the same audiences,” [Boardwalk rep] said. “The Heartland represents one of the largest and most undervalued audiences in American media, and Twin Pines has built exactly the right model to reach it, telling stories with real access and real stakes.”

Todd Lieberman, a fellow Midwesterner and an Academy Award–nominated producer and founder of Hidden Pictures whose numerous credits include War Machine, The Housemaid, The Fighter, The Proposal, Beauty and the Beast, Wonder, and the Muppets films, is serving as an advisor in shaping Twin Pines' slate and packaging strategy.

“Anyone who knows me knows that my Midwestern roots are core to my identity,” said Lieberman. “I've had a longstanding friendship with, and admiration of the Kiskers, and am excited to help Twin Pines cultivate more stories set in, and about the region.”

The company's creative approach is informed by proprietary Heartland audience research led by Maude Standish, Twin Pines' Vice President of Content and Audience. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in Marketing and Advertising, Standish previously worked as VP of Programming at Fullscreen Media and as a trend forecaster at Creative Artists Agency. She is focused on developing new voices and stories from top creators across all platforms.

Twin Pines was advised by Kirkland and Ellis, Fortified Partners and S.MET Link (founded by Phil Metz, former Managing Director of Entertainment Marketing & Music at NASCAR). Boardwalk was advised by [ ].