Molly Thompson

Executive Producer

Molly Thompson is the founder and head of A&E IndieFilms, the feature documentary production arm of A+E Networks. With nearly three decades in the film and television industry under her belt, Thompson has led the company with a hands-on, conscientious approach to production, working side by side with some of today’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers to gain unprecedented access to subjects and tell remarkable, daring stories.

Since the inception of A&E IndieFilms in 2005, Thompson has played a central role in helping the company build a prestigious track record with commercial audiences, major film festivals and critics awards alike. Her track record at A&E IndieFilms includes several guild awards, Emmy nominations and wins, and multiple-category Sundance wins, as well as an impressive four Academy Award® nominations for Roger Ross Willams’ Life, Animated, Matthew Heineman’s Cartel Land, Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro’s Murderball, and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s Jesus Camp. Other acclaimed A&E IndieFilms titles include Amir Bar-Lev’s My Kid Could Paint That as well as his 2012 Emmy Award®-winning The Tillman Story; Alex Gibney’s 2011 PGA Award and DGA Award nominee Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer; and Bart Layton’s BAFTA Award-winning The Imposter.

Current A&E IndieFilms titles which Thompson executive produced include the critically-acclaimed City of Ghosts from Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land) and A Gray State, directed by Erik Nelson and executive produced by Werner Herzog.

Thompson also serves as executive producer on all feature films produced under the HISTORY Films banner, including Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Janet Tobias’ No Place on Earth and Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld. Other HISTORY Films productions include Douglas Tirola’s Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and the Johnny Knoxville-produced Being Evel, both of which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. She has also executive produced two narrative features for Lifetime Films – 2015’s Lila & Eve, starring Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez, and Paris Can Wait, starring Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin.