Campfire Studios hires Ryan Christians to spearhead scripted expansion

California-based Campfire Studios is expanding its scripted operation with the appointment of former Marc Platt Productions executive Ryan Christians as senior VP and head of scripted content.

Ryan Christians

In the new role, Christians will be responsible for spearheading Campfire’s slate of scripted series and features, in addition to collaborating with the company’s unscripted division to leverage in-house IP.

Before arriving at Campfire, Christian spent more than seven years at Marc Platt Productions, where he oversaw development on film and TV collaborations with Universal Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Focus Features, Lionsgate, Netflix, 20th Television and others.

Campfire, which is majority owned by Brent Montgomery’s Wheelhouse, has produced scripted series including Emmy-nominated comedy series Special (Netflix). Its feature-film credits include Netflix originals 1922, Rattlesnake and The Package, in addition to upcoming romantic comedy Players – a coproduction from Campfire Studios and Marc Platt Productions.

“Scripted has always been a pillar of our business,” said Campfire Studios founder and CEO Ross Dinerstein.

“In recent years, as we’ve grown and diversified Campfire’s content slate, broadening our unscripted roster and breaking into the podcasting space, we’re seeing more and more opportunities to capitalise on the IP cultivated in-house, while continuing to generate original scripted concepts.”

On the unscripted front, the company’s recent credits include HBO Max’s cult docuseries The Way Down, Netflix’s Neymar: The Perfect Chaos – about Brazilian soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos Junior – and Hulu documentary WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn.