As part of its expansion into television, STX Entertainment has launched a non-scripted TV division. It will be run by former Katalyst co-founder/partner Jason Goldberg, co-creator and executive producer of hit reality shows Punk’d and Beauty and the Geek. Goldberg has been named STX President of Non-Scripted and Alternative Programming.
Goldberg and his team have been tasked with creating original programming in the U.S., China and India for distribution across linear and digital platforms. The non-scripted programming business will also focus on developing local language IP, both in the U.S. and internationally. The company will control the international and U.S. format rights for shows originating in China.
Goldberg already had been working at STX selling 12 shows to networks in the U.S. and Asia, including NBC, CW, Food Network, Syfy, Oxygen, the History Channel and Freeform. According to STX, it will become the first U.S.-based entertainment company involved in a broadcast television show airing in China, Thank You for Your Love, developed in conjunction with XG Entertainment, expected to air later this year.
"We strategically built STX to capitalize on today’s evolved media landscape. Integrating our operations horizontally eliminates traditional creative barriers so that content ideation and development is centered on reaching and engaging audiences in the most compelling way," said Robert Simonds, Chairman and CEO of STX Entertainment.
STX is backed by TPG Growth, Hony Capital, a leading private equity firm in China, and DNS Capital.
Goldberg and STX first started working together in 2015 on a celebrity prank movie series in the vein of Punk’d at Warner Bros. Goldberg co-founded with Ashton Kutcher and served as the CEO of Katalyst Media from 2000 to 2014 when the company was acquired in 2014 by Prime Capital Inc. In addition to Punk’d and Beauty and the Geek, the company’s unscripted series portfolio included ABC’s True Beauty.