Fox Entertainment announces restructuring

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Fox Corp. has announced it will restructure its entertainment unit. 

Rob Wade, the CEO of Fox Entertainment, announced the changes March 27, 2024.

Under the new structure, Fox Entertainment’s divisions will be split into a trio of segments: Studio entertainment, television and streaming and worldwide sales and licensing.

The newly-created Fox Entertainment Studios unit will be lead by Fernando Szew, who became part of the Fox family after MarVista Entertainment, the company he founded, was bought by Fox in 2021. Szew was also responsible for founding the sales and licensing division, Fox Entertainment Global.

Fox’s unscripted chief Allison Wallach will be part of Szew’s team as head of global unscripted programming. 

Television and streaming will fall under the Fox Television Network banner and become the responsibility of Michael Thorn, previously president of scripted programming for Fox Entertainment.

Thorn and Szew will both report to Wade and plans call for the two executives to work together closely to handle scripted development and production. 

Sales and licensing will continue to operate under the FEG name, with executive vice president Tony Vassiliadis being put in charge on an interim basis. Szew previously led FEG, and a search for a permanent replacement is under way.

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“Under this new structure, every division of Fox Entertainment is now poised for growth and creative excellence as we super-serve our audiences everywhere. Now the work begins,” said Wade in a statement.

The restructuring efforts mean that network, studio and distribution arms are each under separate leadership. The previously arrangement meant that scripted and unscripted programming responsibilities at the network and studio level were the responsibility of the same person.

Under the new structure, Fox Entertainment Studios consolidates all of its studio business engines globally, including animation studio Bento Box Entertainment, which produces Fox’s animated series “Krapopolis,” “Grimsburg” and “Bob’s Burgers,” as well as series for numerous third-party platforms, including Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu and Netflix.

The division also includes Fox Alternative Entertainment, home to “The Masked Singer.” It also incorporates Fox’s scripted studios, creator of the company’s first owned live-action comedy “Animal Control,” MarVista Entertainment, a made-for-platform movie producer, Studio Ramsay Global, launched in partnership with Gordon Ramsay and Harvey Levin’s entertainment studio TMZ.

Wallach will lead all creative and production for the division’s scope of unscripted entertainment. This includes several new global formats owned and produced by FAE, such as “Beat My Mini-Mes” (TF1/France), “Marriage Market” (ProSieben/Germany) and “Celebrity Masterpiece” (Workpoint/Thailand). 

Thorn will will manage the network’s scripted, unscripted and casting teams led by Brooke Bowman, executive vice president, drama programming and development; Cheryl Dolins, senior vice president, comedy and animation programming and development; Yasmin Rawji, executive vice president, unscripted; and Brittainy Roberts, senior vice president, casting, respectively. He will also continue his long-standing involvement in Fox animated properties, remaining a member of the Bento Box Entertainment Steering Committee.

Vassiliadis will report directly to Wade at FEG until a new leader is named, at which point he will transition into a new senior role at Fox Entertainment.

Other Fox businesses, such as its owned-television stations, conservative cable channel’s parent, sports group and Tubi, are not part of the restructuring and will continue to operate as they have been.

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