Click here to read the full article.
Fox is dramatically upscaling its creator lineup, adding seven new creators — and a host of new shows — to the company’s creator-focused division in a bid to create “long-lasting, durable” intellectual property, the head
of the division told Variety.
Fox Creator Studios has signed deals with Canadian influencer Josh Richards, racing influencer Emelia Hartford, the trio behind Speeed Co, food creators Sorted Food and MyHealthyDish, Christina Richardson’s microseries franchise and Alice Ma’s Mad Realities company. The group, whose combined social footprint spans 65 million followers, joins the division’s roster of stalwarts such as chef Gordon Ramsay and comedian Tom Segura.
Fox Creator Studios head Billy Parks told Variety that the new batch of partners represents “different types of creators who are trying different things for their audiences.” He selected the latest crop of creators after various conversations with Fox, agents and the creators themselves.
“We want to show up for different sizes of creators, different types of content and different formats,” Parks said in a phone interview from Austin, where he was visiting the set of one of Segura’s projects. “Those are all important to us, and so we thought a good swath of all those things would be good, and they’re just stuff we’re really excited to make, and stuff more importantly that they’re really excited to make.”
The expansion comes roughly six months after Fox launched the creator-focused arm, a move designed to marry online-first creators’ content ambitions with Fox’s production and distribution efforts — all while allowing the company to tap into the millions of followers those creators have amassed. Such a move helps networks like Fox follow audiences to the platforms they’ve migrated to amid the ongoing decline of linear television.
Richards’ deal will see his production company CrossCheck co-produce with Fox seasons two and three of his sketch comedy show “Read the Room,” which premieres in August, while Hartford’s deal will see her start a celebrity interview series around race tracks called “Hot Laps.” (Parks declined to share which celebrities were booked.)
“Through CrossCheck, we’ve built a company focused on understanding culture, audience behavior, and the next generation of storytelling,” Richards said in a statement. “By combining that perspective with Fox’s scale and legacy, we’re creating a blueprint for what modern media can become.”
“‘Hot Laps’ is exactly the kind of show I’ve always wanted to make, combining high-performance driving with authentic conversations and unforgettable personalities,” Hartford added in her own statement. “We’re bringing people together in an environment where they’re completely out of their element, in the best way possible and that’s where the magic happens. Having Fox Creator Studios believe in me and share my vision for building premium content around creators like myself makes me so excited for the future and to take this project to the next level.”
Speeed Co, Sorted Food, MyHealthyDish and Mad Realities will also launch new shows, while Fox Creator Studios will produce seasons three and four of Richardson’s vertical series “Besties.” All of the shows will launch on the creators’ respective platforms, with Fox financing the productions while taking a stake in the IP. The company retains no final cut on the projects, an uncommon stance among entertainment companies, and its ad sales teams will work to sell ads for each production.
“We don’t give notes,” Parks said. “If they invite us into the creative process, we’re happy to do it, but generally we like to get behind projects that they are excited about.”
Parks said he was continuing to scan several platforms for more creators to bring aboard, though he wouldn’t address whether that includes IP owned by Roku through the Roku Channel, one of several assets soon to be owned by Fox through its $22 billion acquisition of Rokuthis week. “Roku is a super exciting announcement,” he admitted, though he wouldn’t comment further until the transaction closes.
What he is open to, however, is creators generating content through AI, which have found homes through several outlets such as YouTube, TikTok and microseries platforms.
“It’s an exciting place,” Parks said. “The doors are 100% open to all type of creators, whether they’re using AI tools, they’re using animation tools, they’re using what you would consider more traditional kind of script or unscripted formats, all of those things are exciting to us. If it’s a good story, well told, we’re here.”
Pictured above: Josh Richards, Emelia Hartford
