Reese Witherspoon and Otter Media, the joint venture formed between The Chernin Group and AT&T, have started up a new company called Hello Sunshine which will focus on telling female-driven stories across all platforms. That will include not only film and TV but also daily social and short-form digital content. To that end, Hello Sunshine starts launching content in 2017 at Hello-Sunshine.com.
Leading the effort will be newly named CEO Kerry Tucker who joins the new venture directly from The Video Genome Project. While at VGP, she built and managed the strategy and operations as COO, and served as one of the principal architects of its sale to Hulu. Before that, she was executive VP/CMO of Victoria’s Secret, and earlier than that, she served as marketing head for all divisions of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
The announcement was made today by Witherspoon and Sarah Harden, President of Otter Media. “Reese is a phenomenal partner with a unique sensibility, and together with Kerry, who has championed women’s voices throughout her career, we are excited to launch a company that is anchored in the ambitious vision of reflecting and inspiring women everywhere. We look forward to producing content that resonates deeply with our community in all formats, and through all channels,” said Harden in a statement.
Hello Sunshine will operate under Otter Media’s umbrella and will leverage Otter’s expertise in content, distribution and monetization models, as well as its strong track record in investing, building and scaling content brands and OTT video services, they say. AT&T and The Chernin Group formed Otter Media in April 2014 to acquire, invest in and launch global over-the-top (OTT) video services.
Its portfolio includes Fullscreen Media (which owns Rooster Teeth); social marketing agency McBeard; Ellation (which manages Crunchyroll, a subscription and ad-supported video platform for Japanese anime); VRV, a multichannel video platform built for a community of fans who love anime, animation, gaming, comedy, fantasy and technology; and Gunpowder & Sky.
Seth Rodsky, Founding Partner of Strand Equity Partners, is partnered with Witherspoon on the deal and will join the Hello Sunshine board.
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