Sarnoff will automatically become one of the most powerful women in Hollywood when she officially joins the company this summer, overseeing worldwide operations and content at the studio responsible for films such as Wonder Woman, iconic TV series including Friends and the whole Harry Potter franchise.

There are still very few women occupying executive roles in the industry, with practically all of the other major studios including Disney, Universal and Dreamworks currently headed by men. Warner Bros. in particular is seen by insiders as a distinctly masculine environment – founded by four warring brothers in the 1920s and run exclusively by men ever since, Sarnoff will be the only female on an all-male executive team.

“It’s hard to overestimate what this does to arguably the most masculine studio ever,” says a producer who knows Sarnoff well. “This is the studio that thrived on making gangster movies and the Lethal Weapon/Joel Silver era. This is 1,000 percent a groundbreaking change.”

The fact that Sarnoff has been appointed at all is a sign she’s already breaking the mould. Let’s hope she uses her position to shake-up the still dramatically unequal and unrepresentative industry, from the casting room right up to the board room.

Time’s Up for the macho era at one of Hollywood’s top studios