Ex-Channel 4 exec Sarah Lazenby to head Hello Sunshine unscripted arm in UK

Reese Witherspoon’s media company Hello Sunshine is launching an unscripted division in the UK that will be led by Channel 4’s former head of features and formats, Sarah Lazenby.

Sarah Lazenby

Lazenby will oversee operations as executive VP, unscripted UK, reporting to Hello Sunshine’s head of unscripted, Sara Rea.

The new UK division is currently developing an as-yet unnamed unscripted series with Channel 4, according to Candle Media-backed Hello Sunshine.

“We are thrilled to expand our global mission of innovative, unscripted, female-led storytelling to the UK,” said Rea.

“Sarah Lazenby is perfectly poised to lead the charge, as her talent, passion and sensibility for great storytelling couldn’t be more in sync with our mission. This is a strategic and exciting moment for us as a company as we continue building upon our trusted relationship with talent and viewers around the world.”

During her tenure with Channel 4, Lazenby oversaw a factual slate that included titles such as The Great British Bake Off, Flirting Dancing and Crazy Delicious. She was also a producer on the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special for HBO.

The launch of the UK factual outpost comes two years after Hello Sunshine acquired Rea’s SKR Productions, which produced unscripted series such as Making the Cut (Amazon Prime Video) with Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn and Netflix’s Get Organized.

The company is also producing the competition series My Kind of Country for Apple TV+ and comedy feature To Paris For Love for Roku.