Jupiter bolsters development team

Sky Studios-owned New York prodco Jupiter Entertainment has appointed a director of development and struck deals with veteran producers Ben Pagel and Michael Lappin.

Lauren Gerber

Lauren Gerber will be joining Jupiter in the role, having built up more than a decade of production and development experience at New York-based tech company Eko and LA-based Anonymous Content.

Gerber, whose development credits include The Writer’s Room (Sundance), Home Free (Fox) and Guy’s Grocery Games (The Food Network), will work with VP of development Chris Spry to devise unscripted programming for broadcast, cable and streaming platforms.

Katherine Grandy, Jupiter’s director of production and development, remains with the company in the role that leans more towards production.

Meanwhile, Jupiter is working with Pagel, founder and creative director of Astral Studio, on projects including a recently commissioned as-yet-unannounced 20-episode series and a premium limited docuseries.

It is also working with Lappin, a TV, film and podcast producer whose credits include Love Nina (BBC1/Netflix), Doctor Thorne (Amazon) and the podcast Call Her Daddy (Barstool Sports).

Jupiter has tasked Lappin with bridging the worlds of traditional television and the short form content market after he was instrumental in securing Jupiter’s multiplatform deal with All Def Digital and talent deals with YouTubers.

“Lauren is an important new hire as we look to evolve our already diversified portfolio with new genres and formats that satiate our growing audience’s appetite,” said Patrick Reardon, president of Jupiter Entertainment.

“Both Michael and Ben are invaluable additions to our team and I look forward to the many projects that will emerge from these partnerships.”

Currently, Jupiter is in production across multiple projects, including the true-crime franchise Snapped (Oxygen), In Pursuit with John Walsh (ID), American Detective (D+), Killer Couples (Oxygen) and several premium documentaries, including the recently announced Heval (CuriosityStream).