Former Maverick USA President John Hesling has been tapped to lead Fox Alternative Entertainment, the broadcaster’s in-house unscripted studio arm.
Hesling will oversee the development and production of all unscripted series owned by Fox Entertainment, TheWrap has confirmed. Those series include “The Masked Singer,” “Next Level Chef,” “Crime Scene Kitchen” and “Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer,” among others, alongside productions for third-party buyers in the U.S. and abroad, including “Love Trip: Paris” for Freeform and “The Big Deal” for Ireland’s Virgin Media Television in partnership with Dublin-based BiggerStage.
The veteran executive will report to Fox Entertainment President of Unscripted Programming Allison Wallach, who was elevated to the position in December 2022 after Rob Wade was promoted to CEO.
“I am so excited for John to join FAE and lead the incredible team we have assembled,” Wallach said. “His creative vision and vast experience as both a producer and an executive working on a global scale will be key to our strategy of building FAE as a leading provider of innovative series and formats for Fox and third-party platforms throughout the world.”
As President of Maverick TV USA, a role Hesling held from 2018 to 2022, he oversaw production for series “Chrisley Knows Best” and “Growing Up Chrisley.” Prior to his role at Maverick TV USA, he served as Vice President of Programming at Warner Bros.’ Shed Media, where he focused the unscripted department’s wide slate of series, which included Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York City,” NBC’s “First Dates” and “Genius Junior,” TLC’s “Long Lost Family” and “Who Do You Think You Are?” and Oxygen’s “Criminal Confessions.”
“Getting the chance to work with Allison and team at Fox is an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to get started,” Hesling said in a statement. “FAE has a roster of incredible talent and global ambitions, and that, together with a focus on creating hit shows for the network, is a super-exciting challenge.”
Deadline first reported the news.