Eco-entertainment organization Reality of Change and the global environmental nonprofit Rare are partnering to “engage the unscripted television industry in creating meaningful, impactful ways to address the critical need for […]
NBCUniversal Television and Streaming has promoted Erica Forstadt to senior vice president, entertainment unscripted current production, from her current VP role. Forstadt is charged with creative production oversight on select documentary and lifestyle unscripted programming across the NBCU Television and Streaming entertainment portfolio, which includes NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Syfy, Universal Kids, USA Network and Peacock. Reporting to Shari Levine, EVP, entertainment unscripted current production, she will oversee an upcoming slate of premiere docuseries and limited-run unscripted series.
Reality TV may have gotten its groove back, and it’s all thanks to a bunch of B-list celebrities attempting to carry a tune underneath elaborate costumes. The success of Fox’s The Masked Singer has brought new life to the unscripted world, which has struggled in recent years to generate the kind of buzz and excitement that defined the genre in the early 2000s.
One of the most influential players in unscripted television just got a much bigger gig. Meredith Ahr, the head of Universal Television Alternative Studio, has been promoted to now oversee unscripted output at the broadcast network as well. She fills the vacancy left by her longtime boss Paul Telegdy, who was elevated to co-chairman of NBC at the top of the fall season.
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Endemol Shine North America has named Sharon Levy president, unscripted and scripted television. Levy was most recently EVP of original series for Spike TV, where she spent the last 12 […]
It’s been more than 15 years since the heyday of unscripted TV. Now, with fewer instant hits and the focus on this golden age of scripted TV, malaise and fear have swept in. Reality TV has become a mature business, which means the shows are more expensive, profit margins have been squeezed, and ratings are down — yet producers are being asked to do more.
CBS Television Studios has formed a new unscripted programming department, with reality programming producer and executive Ghen Maynard named to the newly created position of senior EVP of alternative programming.
A legal battle over accounting practices that has enveloped indie company LMNO Prods. has stirred a hornet’s nest in the tight-knit community of producers of unscripted television. A number of prominent producers are dismayed at Discovery Communications for what they see as ruthlessness in its handling of a lawsuit and federal investigation into allegations of pervasive fraud in LMNO’s business operations going back more than a decade.
Despite all the attention scripted content gets, it’s unscripted programming that’s still driving much of the scale, particularly on cable. Of the top 50 entertainment telecasts on cable during the third quarter of this year, 39 were unscripted shows.
The new group will be led by Linda Giambrone, EVP, unscripted production, and Georgie Hurford-Jones, SVP, unscripted programming. Also on board are Michael Weinberg, Rachel Dax, Robin Feinberg, Laura Gibson and Christopher Potts.
