Amazon's Head Of Unscripted Series Jenny Falkoff Joins Netflix
The Love Is Blind streamer has appointed Jenny Falkoff, fresh from the success of Beast Games, to its Jeff Gaspin-led unscripted team.
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Falkoff is being tasked with helping Netflix find more large, 'splashy' competition formats and 'buzzy' social experiments. As Gaspin told Deadline last year, he is now focusing on 'bigger formats, more of what you would call broadcast-style shows versus the cable style shows'. It comes after recent greenlights for series such as The Golden Ticket, first revealed by Deadline, and Star Search.
Falkoff was previously head of unscripted series at Amazon, having spent seven months in that role, after previously having been head of reality series for nearly two years.
It comes eight months after her former colleague Alysia Russo, who was head of docuseries at Amazon, made the same move to join Netflix. It used to be rare for executives to move between the streamers but it seems less rare over the last twelve months, particularly in unscripted.
Falkoff joined Amazon in May 2021, having previously been on the production side, working on series such as Big Brother, Love Island, Fox's 24 Hours to Hell and Back and Netflix's How To Be A Cowboy.
At Amazon, she was initially a senior unscripted creative executive for Amazon Freevee, where she worked on series including Play-Doh Squished, Judy Justice, and Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis. More recently, she ordered Wear Whatever The F You Want, hosted by Clinton Kelly and Stacy London, who previously hosted What Not To Wear for TLC, and worked on Beast Games.
Lauren Anderson, who is Head, Brand and Content Innovation, Amazon MGM Studios, currently oversees the company's unscripted programming.
The company has been trying to figure out its unscripted strategy of late. There have been some conflicting reports as to whether Amazon was hunting for a new unscripted chief with some sources saying that Mike Hopkins, who is head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, was leading the charge. Others caution that the company has been talking internally about which executives may take on more responsibilities in unscripted.
Amazon recently renewed Beast Games for two more seasons in an eye-popping deal and, last year, launched a gameshow block with Are You Smarter than A Celebrity? hosted by Travis Kelce, Buy It Now hosted by JB Smoove, Wish List Games and Pop Culture Jeopardy hosted by Colin Jost. However, many in the unscripted business have been slightly confused by its strategy since Chris Castallo left the role of head of unscripted in 2023.
Netflix's reality slate including series such as Queer Eye, which just aired its ninth season, Selling Sunset, which is returning for its ninth season, Love Is Blind, which just premiered its eighth season, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, which has run for three seasons, Rhythm + Flow, which was brought back for a second season at the end of last year, Peter Serafinowicz-led gameshow Million Dollar Secret and recent lanches Battle Camp and Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark.
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