Hello Sunshine’s To Paris for Love among unscripted trio greenlit by Roku Channel

AVoD platform The Roku Channel is expanding its roster of dating and relationship originals with the greenlight of three new projects, including an unscripted feature film from Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and Zoë Saldaña’s Cinestar Pictures.

Reese Witherspoon (photo: dtstuff9 via CC)

To Paris for Love: A Reality Rom Com, described as a “first-of-its-kind take on the scripted romantic comedy genre,” follows three single friends as they travel to Paris in search of love.

The 90-minute film is executive produced by Sara Rae, Sue Kinkead and Witherspoon for Hello Sunshine and Mariel Saldaña, Zoë Saldaña and Cisely Saldaña for Cinestar Pictures.

The Roku Channel also commissioned The Marriage Pact (8×60’, working title), produced by Boat Rocker-backed Maven. The social-experiment series follows longtime single friends who must fulfill or break a promise from the past: a pact to marry if both are still single by a certain age.

Maven president Jessica Sebastian-Dayeh is executive producing alongside Peter Scalettar and Jessica Nahmias.

The AVoD platform also ordered Match Me in Miami, an 8×60’ dating series from All3Media-backed Lime Pictures. The series follows an elite matchmaking agency that challenges itself to get Miami’s “most eligible” people coupled up within the space of a few weeks.

The project is executive produced by Ben Crompton and Sarah Tyekiff of Lime Pictures, which is also behind Celebs Go Dating, The Singles Project, Dating No Filter and True Love or True Lies.

All three new projects will launch on The Roku Channel in the US, UK and Canada in 2023.

The greenlights come as Roku continues to grow its original-content aspirations with new shows and high-level hires.

Last month, the company commissioned Slip, a seven-part scripted comedy series from Boat Rocker Studios and Dakota Johnson’s US production company TeaTime Pictures. It is also partnering with Spectrum Originals and Sony Pictures Television on eight-episode comedy-drama Panhandle, with The Roku Channel taking an exclusive second window.

The platform also revealed the appointment of ITV America chief creative officer David Eilenberg as its new head of originals.