Reese Witherspoon and her production company, Hello Sunshine, are proving themselves to be a very powerful force in the production world. Hello Sunshine already has multiple projects in the works with Apple’s forthcoming streaming service. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Witherspoon and her company are furthering their existing partnership with AT&T with an on-demand Hello Sunshine subscription channel.
For an additional fee, DirectTV and U-Verse customers can subscribe for access to the platform’s exclusive content, which already includes two original unscripted series.
Set to premiere July 17, “Shine On With Reese” features Witherspoon in conversation with successful women from various professions. Guests will include Dolly Parton, Ava DuVernay, America Ferrera, as well as many others. Charlotte Koh, Hello Sunshine’s head of digital media and programming, stressed that this series “epitomizes our goal of telling unexpected stories from interesting women’s perspectives.”
“Master the Mess” premieres in September. This docuseries follows Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, cofounders of organization company The Home Edit, as they “blend comedy with organization.”
Hello Sunshine looks “forward to working with AT&T to develop more opportunities for women to see themselves and their stories reflected in entertainment,” said CEO Sarah Harden. This goal extends past the screen; in August, the two companies will hold a female filmmaker camp in Los Angeles. Participants will work with Witherspoon and other professionals to create content for the new platform.
Hello Sunshine will continue to work with both AT&T and Apple towards developing original programming. Projects for Apple include “Are You Sleeping,” a thriller series starring Octavia Spencer and Lizzy Caplan, and a morning show drama costarring Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Hello Sunshine and Apple are also currently reorganizing a comedy series based on Curtis Sittenfield’s short stories, as Kristen Wigg had to exit due to scheduling conflicts with Patty Jenkin’s “Wonder Woman” sequel.
Witherspoon is currently filming the second season of HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” She is also slated to exec produce and star alongside Kerry Washington in Hulu’s upcoming series “Little Fires Everywhere” based on Celeste Ng’s bestselling novel.