Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine reportedly set to shutter unscripted division

Reese Witherspoon in The Morning Show

Hello Sunshine, the Candle Media-backed media company led by Reese Witherspoon, is set to close its unscripted division, according to a report from business publication Bloomberg.

The US company’s head of unscripted, Sara Rea, is leaving the role after five years and founding a new production company that will produce projects with Hello Sunshine, said Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the plans. C21’s requests for comment had not been returned at press time.

This marks the latest major change at Hello Sunshine, which revealed last month that its CEO, Sarah Harden, was stepping down after seven years and being replaced by head of direct-to-consumer Maureen Polo.

Hello Sunshine is behind unscripted series including Family Recipe Showdown (Food Network/Hulu), Women’s Sports Now (Roku), F1: The Academy (Netflix), Surf Girls (Amazon Prime) and My Kind of Country (Apple TV+).

Candle Media, which is backed by private equity giant Blackstone, acquired Hello Sunshine for a reported US$900m in mid-2021, when valuations for content-focused media companies were riding high. Later that year it also acquired CoComelon and Blippi owner Moonbug Entertainment for around US$3bn. The market collapsed in 2022 and has not returned to the lofty highs seen between the mid-to-late 2010s and early 2020s.

While Hello Sunshine is closing its unscripted division, the company will remain involved in the scripted space, where it has produced shows such as The Morning Show (Apple TV+), Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu), Surface (Apple TV+), Truth Be Told (Apple TV+), From Scratch (Netflix) and Big Little Lies (HBO). It is also producing Lucky, a reimagining of Legally Blonde, for Apple TV+.

The company has continued to grow its Reese’s Book Club initiative, helmed by Polo, over the past three years. According to Hello Sunshine, Reese’s Book Club has selected 116 books since 2017, with more than 90 landing on the New York Times Best Seller list. In June, it also launched a Gen Z-focused media, experiential and lifestyle brand called Sunnie.

In addition to Hello Sunshine and Moonbug Entertainment, other companies owned by Candle Media include Faraway Road Productions and Exile Content Studios.

A year ago, Candle Media reorganised its live-action assets under a new Candle Studios banner, encompassing Hello Sunshine, Exile Content, Faraway Road Productions and Candle True Stories. Candle Studios shares resources including business affairs, legal affairs, production services, facilities and equipment.