Skip to content

EXCLUSIVE: Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade has committed long into the future to his company’s creator studio, telling Deadline: “We’re not here to flip a house.”

Fox Creator Studios (FCS), a “digital-first division,” was unveiled at the start of this year with partnerships including a food roster headed by Gordon Ramsay, but the idea had been percolating in Wade’s mind for more than a decade.

Wade feels that plenty of big companies are investing in the creator, AI and tech space simply in order to “sell for hundreds of millions and get out,” but Fox won’t be following suit. “The game is built around that, which is not a recipe for long-term success,” said Wade. “But we’re in it for the long term. We’re not here to flip a house. If I want to invest in something, my bosses and board will say that if it’s successful they want to build on it. We will never sell [Fox Creator Studios].”

Wade was speaking to Deadline in the days leading up to MIPCOM, where he has just been joined on a Deadline-hosted panel by FCS boss Billy Parks, Prentiss Fraser, who runs distributor Fox Entertainment Global (FEG), and Fox-backed creators Josh Richards and Chris Sawtelle.

Wade, Parks and Fraser have grand plans, with the former positioning the main goal as “creating a path to IP creation on the internet.”

In this vein, FCS is doing things a bit differently to its rivals in what is becoming an increasingly crowded space both in the U.S. and internationally, with content creators one of the big topics at this year’s MIPCOM, a traditional TV sales market.

FCS is seeking to tie with content creators across a whole range of genres but won’t necessarily air their work solely on Fox or Fox-owned platforms like Tubi. Instead, it will leverage resources and advertising infrastructure to create content spanning different platforms and territories. Content creators can then diversify revenue streams, while FEG boss Fraser and her team shop their wares around the world. The studio has so far struck deals with long-time Fox collaborator Ramsay, comedian Tom Segura and creators like Richards, who makes YouTube sketch comedy Read the Room.

This approach sets Fox apart from its competitors in two key ways, Wade believes, “going direct and investing in original content by creating finance for new shows,” and providing “very significant advertising infrastructure” via an ad sales division that has the likes of the NFL and World Cup in its portfolio.

Parks, who joined Fox from The Chernin Group, said the studio offers hands-off support to creators who are “being pulled in many different directions.”

“We’re not greenlighting their ideas through a long, traditional development process,” he added. “Instead, we’re available for notes and feedback in an equitable way, without approaching the relationship as a top-down studio-to-creative model.”

In this way, Parks said creators “who are trying to do something outside their comfort zone” can be supported with capital and an IP-sharing vision.

“Many platforms that work with creators option their libraries or make shows with them to drive audiences to their own platforms,” he added. “That’s how companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are structured to work. That isn’t necessarily better or worse. Every creator will make different choices at different points in their career. But those platforms are primarily built to acquire subscribers, and that’s what they do with creators.”

Parks was recently at creator economy market VidSummit, where he said bosses at CAA, UTA and WME were all present along with leaders from platforms like Netflix and Tubi. “Everyone is thinking about the different types of deals available to creators, whether that involves investment, production or intellectual property,” he added.

All started with ‘Dancing With The Stars’

But while creators may be the talk of today, Wade and Parks have been thinking about this for a long while.

Wade says FCS’ inception harks back more than 15 years to when he was a producer on Dancing with the Stars and booked the show’s first ever YouTuber, Bethany Mota.

“She did very well but we learned a few things,” he added. “I was expecting an avalanche of YouTube views and imagined the votes for her would heavily skew young but there was no sudden mass of views or a sudden mass on YouTube. Our knowledge of the internet back then was very different.”

He realized that YouTube success does not always translate to traditional TV in obvious ways and figured out over the years that a studio’s infrastructure could be used in smart ways in this space. Things solidified with the success of Prime Video and A24’s Hazbin Hotel, which was produced by Fox-owned Bento Box and started life on YouTube via its creator Vivienne Medrano.

“We thought to ourselves, ‘We’re not a library, we’re a studio’,” added Wade. “What a studio does is back creators and put bets on them. That is something we know how to do.”

EXCLUSIVE: Steve Stark has extended and expanded his relationship with Amazon MGM Studios and its MGM Television division. His production company Toluca Pictures has signed a multi-year extension of its exclusive overall deal with MGM Television. Once again, it will include a first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios, which is now being expanded beyond scripted TV to also include feature films and documentaries.

Former MGM Television President Stark has named longtime MGM television executive Max Kisbye as President of Television & Film at Toluca Pictures. Kisbye succeeds Stacey Levin who recently left the company.

Kisbye will work with Stark overseeing Toluca Pictures’ development and production operations. Additionally, the company has promoted longtime development executives Jessica Farrelly and Elan Fingles, along with creative executive Mia Stelling.

“I am thrilled to have Max joining Toluca Pictures,” Stark said. “He is an exceptional executive with tremendous creative instincts, a go-getter with an incredible understanding of the business and, most importantly, a friend with a real passion for great storytelling. We have an incredibly ambitious slate ahead of us, and I couldn’t be more excited to have him alongside me. I’m equally excited to be expanding the roles of Jessica, Elan and Mia, who have been such an important part of building Toluca.”

Stark and Kisbye have been friends for more than 20 years. Kisbye was a TV lit agent at CAA when Stark, then President of MGM Television TV, hired him as VP of Television Production in 2012. Kisbye most recently served as Senior Manager of Creative Development in MGM’s TV Scripted group.

“I’ve always admired Steve’s instincts and his fearlessness in following them—whether that leads to a historical epic, a dark comedy, a documentary or something no one expects,” Kisbye said. “That spirit is what makes Toluca so exciting to me.”

Stark launched Toluca Pictures in 2021 with a five-year overall deal at MGM Television after a nine-year stint as president of the TV studio.

Toluca’s current slate includes flagship Netflix series Wednesday, which recently wrapped principal photography on its third season. The company also has coming up Nordic historical epic Bloodaxe, which is slated to premiere in January on Prime Video, as well as Mexican superhero series El Gato Negro, also for Prime Video. The company is in production on the second season of Hulu’s The Testaments and is set to begin production in 2027 on Fear Not, a true-story thriller starring Anne Hathaway for Paramount+.

“Steve and I have been creative partners for years, and what he’s built at Toluca is a testament to his extraordinary taste and drive to make great content,” said Lindsay Sloane, Head of MGM Television. “From Wednesday to Bloodaxe to The Testaments, the range and ambition of what Toluca delivers is remarkable. And having worked closely with Max, I’ve seen his talent and passion firsthand.”

Stark was under a producing deal with Universal Television in 2011 when he was recruited by Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Roma Khanna to relaunch MGM Television following the studio’s 2010 bankruptcy. Some of the series he launched during his tenure building up the division include The Handmaid’s Tale for Hulu, Fargo for FX, and Vikings for History.

Since he launched Toluca in 2021, the company has also produced the series The Consultant, starring Oscar winner Christoph Waltz for Amazon Prime Video, Vikings: Valhalla for Netflix, and The Bombing of Pan Am 103, which recently premiered on Netflix and BBC, as well as the documentary The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes.

“I’m incredibly grateful to Lindsay Sloane and my friends and colleagues at MGM Television, who have been extraordinary partners throughout this journey,” Stark said. “I’m also thankful for the continued support of Mike Hopkins, Peter Friedlander, and Kara Smith at Amazon MGM Studios.”

Stark is repped by CAA and attorney Greg Slewett at JSSK. Kisbye is repped by David Matlof of Hirsch, Wallerstien, Hayum, Matlof and Fishman.