Hello Sunshine

Hello Sunshine is an American media company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2016 by actress Reese Witherspoon and Strand Equity founder Seth Rodsky as a joint venture with Otter Media, the Chernin Group/AT&T venture. Its stated focus is female-driven storytelling across film, television and digital platforms, structured around scripted, unscripted, family/young adult, short-form and podcast slates. Pacific Standard, the production company Witherspoon co-founded with Bruna Papandrea in 2012, operates as a subsidiary, as does the Hello Sunshine Channel.

The company's output includes scripted series such as Big Little Lies (HBO), Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu), Daisy Jones & The Six, The Morning Show (Apple TV+), Truth Be Told and Tiny Beautiful Things; feature films including Wild, Gone Girl (produced as Pacific Standard) and Where the Crawdads Sing; and unscripted and short-form programming such as Surf Girls Hawai'i, My Kind of Country, The Real Love Boat–style reality rom-coms distributed on Roku, and branded YouTube series produced with partners including KitchenAid, Lavazza, Bumble and Baileys. Hello Sunshine also runs Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine, a monthly book pick announced on Witherspoon's Instagram, and has published children's title Busy Betty. It has produced podcasts including How It Is, My Best Break-Up and And Especially You, and ran a Filmmaker Lab teaching filmmaking to 20 girls aged 13–18.

Key executives include Sarah Harden (CEO, later named head of Candle Studios) and Lauren Levy Neustadter (President, Film & TV). The company publishes Gen Z consumer research reports for brand audiences through its Insights arm.

Founding story

Reese Witherspoon and Strand Equity founder and managing partner Seth Rodsky formed Hello Sunshine in November 2016 as a joint venture with Otter Media, following Witherspoon's assumption of full control of Pacific Standard after her split with co-founder Bruna Papandrea, with the aim of telling female-driven stories across film, TV and digital platforms.

Business model

Hello Sunshine develops and produces scripted and unscripted content that is licensed to or distributed by third-party platforms including HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Netflix, Starz, ABC, DirecTV and Roku, and releases feature films theatrically. It complements production with consumer-facing brands and community properties — Reese's Book Club, podcasts, publishing and live events — and with branded content produced in partnership with consumer companies. It has also operated its own distribution outlet, the Hello Sunshine Channel, launched in 2018 via AT&T as a women-focused cable and satellite channel.

Revenue derives from producing and licensing scripted and unscripted programming to networks and streaming platforms, theatrical film distribution, branded content and sponsorship partnerships with consumer brands, podcasts and audio programming, publishing and consumer products, and its book club and community properties.

Traction

Credits include Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, Daisy Jones & The Six, The Morning Show, Truth Be Told (NAACP Image Award winning) and Tiny Beautiful Things; Where the Crawdads Sing passed $100 million in worldwide box office in August 2022, and Pacific Standard-era films Wild and Gone Girl grossed $52.5 million and $369.3 million worldwide respectively. Reese's Book Club has over 3 million Instagram followers and more than 70,000 on Facebook. As of February 2020 the company had six television series in development across Apple TV+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, ABC, Starz and Netflix.

Latest developments

In July 2024 Candle Media consolidated its live-action properties under a new division, Candle Studios, with Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden named to lead it. Earlier, in February 2023, Hello Sunshine closed its kids and animation unit, with work expected to shift toward fellow Candle Media subsidiary Moonbug Entertainment. The company's site promotes recent titles including The Morning Show Season 3, Surf Girls Hawai'i and unscripted romance formats, and publishes Gen Z insight reports.