Tom Staggs Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Moonbug Entertainment, the kids’ entertainment powerhouse behind the hit “CoComelon” franchise, is bringing on board its first chief marketing officer: Peter Stone, a nine-year veteran of Netflix. In the new role, Stone will be responsible for Moonbug’s global marketing strategy, as well as the evolution and growth of its brands. He will be based in Moonbug’s London office and starts Dec.

Media entrepreneur Byron Allen, one of many parties interested in acquiring ABC and other linear TV assets from Disney, said he has “access to plenty of capital,” and Disney’s internal deliberations are the next hurdle to be cleared.

S&P today affirmed its A- investment grade credit rating for Disney after CEO Bob Iger, in a recent interview with CNBC, injected a big dose of uncertainty into what the company may look like going forward.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, two former high-ranking Disney execs, are working for the Mouse House again — in a consulting capacity. The duo, who are the co-CEOs of media-rollup play Candle Media, have been retained by Disney to help analyze and develop strategic options for ESPN, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement. Staggs, formerly Disney’s chief operating officer, and Mayer, previously chairman of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International and briefly CEO of TikTok, will work with Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN and Sports Content, on developing a plan for what Disney will do with ESPN going forward.

Bob Iger, with pressure mounting on multiple fronts, has turned to former top Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, hiring them as consultants to the media giant as it defines its strategy.

TikTok is overhauling its executive ranks, with Chief Operating Officer V Pappas leaving the company and longtime Disney communications chief Zenia Mucha joining in a newly created role.

TikTok and Candle Media have entered a strategic partnership wherein Candle Media’s business units will create custom creator-focused opportunities for the TikTok platform’s users.Chiefly, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine (which Candle Media acquired in 2021) will help elevate underrepresented indie authors of the #BookTok community. Authors will be able to support the development of film, TV, and audio projects.“TikTok continues to experience explosive growth and has become a critical platform for storytelling and marketing,” said Kevin Mayer & Tom Staggs, Candle Media’s co-founders and co-CEOs.

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has struck a partnership with TikTok, with an initial focus on Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine to uncover underrepresented independent authors and literary material from the #BookTok community.

EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has hired a UK development boss for its fledgling True Stories label.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Former ABC News president James Goldston is joining Candle Media, founded and led by ex-Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, to head a new division focused on TV shows and movies based on true stories. Goldston will serve as president of the new division, which will produce scripted and nonscripted features and series “inspired by true stories,” according to Candle. Goldston spent 18 years at ABC News, including seven years as president, before exiting in 2021. overseeing all aspects of America’s number one news division, including #1 rated “Good Morning America” and “World News with David Muir.” He also led ABC News into the streaming era with a series of successful podcast and documentary projects for Hulu and Disney+, including “The Dropout,” produced by Rebecca Jarvis and her team, which became a successful podcast, documentary and Emmy-award winning scripted series for Hulu, and John’s Ridley’s “Let it Fall,” a duPont-Columbia Award-winning documentary on the LA riots. His teams have won five Edward R. Murrow Awards for Overall Excellence, and numerous other prestigious honors in journalism, including a Peabody, duPont-Columbia, and Emmy awards.

Former ABC News Chief James Goldston has joined Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media to head up a new division focused on scripted and non-scripted features and series inspired by true stories. Goldston will serve as President of the new group. 

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Hello Sunshine is shuttering its kids and animation business as part of a strategic decision to focus Candle Media’s kids and animation efforts under Moonbug, the family production studio the corp snapped up for a near $3 billion in November 2021.  

In about 698 days, the Walt Disney Company is supposed to have its fourth CEO in three years.

Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment is selling a majority stake to Paris-based Mediawan, Deadline has confirmed, following news several months ago that the company was seeking a buyer.

Fauda creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff are attending the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa for the world premiere of the fourth season of the show. Since the first season started streaming on Netflix, the Israeli political thriller has built up a huge following in India, and also has a Hindi-language remake, produced by Applause Entertainment for local streamer SonyLiv. 

EXCLUSIVE: The Hitman’s Bodyguard and Has Fallen outfit Millennium Media is partnering with Will Smith’s German film and TV distributor, Telepool, to co-develop three English-language features over the next three years. Millennium Media is set to produce with Telepool serving as executive producer.

Hello Sunshine has added two senior executives. Stefanie Markman is joining the Candle Media company as General Counsel and EVP, Business and Legal Affairs, and Wifreddy Chiang as EVP, Finance and Accounting.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kevin Mayer says that the investment strategy at Candle Media, the hard-charging entertainment startup that he heads with Tom Staggs, is product of his career time at Disney and TikTok. While those two companies are behemoths and Candle Media a newcomer, the claim is not as outlandish as it seems. At Disney, Mayer was largely responsible the launch of the direct-to-consumer streaming businesses that became Disney+. And as Disney, Pixar and other group content was made exclusive and contained within a walled garden, it stoked demand for premium independently-made content. Candle Media sets its sights on becoming just such a supplier.

EXCLUSIVE: Candle Media-backed Spanish-language powerhouse Exile Content Studio has promoted Nando Vila to succeed Daniel Eilemberg as Head of Studio.

EXCLUSIVE: Faraway Road Productions, the production label founded by Fauda creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff and which was acquired this year by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media, has hired Salome Peillon and Adi Ezroni, as Chief Operating Officer and EVP of Content, respectively.  

Anna Marie de la Fuente Latin-focused content powerhouse Exile Content Studio has snagged a majority stake in the Lil’ Heroes NFT Franchise which will soon spawn a toon series with NBA star Carmelo Anthony.He will voice and exec produce the show through his company, Creative7 Productions.The news comes in the wake of Exile’s acquisition in late May by Candle Media, the next generation media company founded by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. Said Mayer and Staggs, who serve as co-CEOs: “We are excited to expand Exile’s partnership with Lil’ Heroes, a dynamic new franchise with a deeply engaged community, and a great example of how digitally-native IP can engage audiences through various platforms, products and experiences.” Created by Spanish contemporary artist Edgar Plans, Lil’ Heroes was launched through an NFT collaboration with Exile and NFT studio, Curatible.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Disney exec David Levine is exiting kids entertainment powerhouse Moonbug Entertainment, Deadline has learned. The well-liked exec has been Head of Studios since December 2020.

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have been around the media business long enough to resist the temptation to overreact to Netflix’s latest travails. Even though their emerging investment firm, Candle Media, owns two key Netflix suppliers—CoComelon production company Moonbug Entertainment and Fauda producer Faraway Road—they don’t seem too concerned that Netflix may topple from its perch. (And at press time, the previously unthinkable scenario has become a lot more, well, thinkable.)

“The Coup” in partnership with AP productions. Exile also holds the IP for the character Manolito Gafotas, whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages in 22 countries.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterKevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has acquired Spanish-language producer Exile Content Studio.Per Candle Media, “Exile’s mission is to create content featuring the experiences and voices of diverse Spanish-speaking communities from around the world.”The company was founded in 2019 by Isaac Lee, formerly the chief content officer for Univision and Televisa. The production company specializes in feature films, scripted and unscripted television, music and audio storytelling and commerce activities for digital media.Exile, which is has its headquarters in Los Angeles and offices in Mexico City, Madrid, and Miami, will continue to be overseen by Lee and Exile’s senior management team for day-to-day operations.

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has acquired its latest company, Spanish-language content powerhouse Exile Content Studio.

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has hired seasoned executives Courtney Cappa and Kendall Ostrow as, respectively, SVP, Finance & Accounting, and SVP, Business Development & Community.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorA bright-red, child-size magical morphing creature is heading to Disney platforms.Disney Branded Television inked a deal with Moonbug Entertainment for 52 episodes of 7-minute CG series, “Morphle,” based on the YouTube short-form hit My Magic Pet Morphle. It’s the first partnership between Disney and Moonbug, whose properties include the CoComelon kids’ content juggernaut.The comedy adventure series is slated to debut in 2024 exclusively on Disney+ and Disney Junior globally, excluding China.

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media have struck again, announcing the purchase ATTN, a social media storytelling company for Gen Z and Millennials. Candle said today it will help provide scale, capital and expertise to accelerate ATTN’s growth as it continues “to create original content for Gen Z and Millennials across social media, network television and streaming services, in addition to growing their publishing, brand studio, creative strategy and agency services. That includes a TikTok Studio that supports brands and influencers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorCandle Media, the next-gen media roll-up play run by ex-Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, announced the acquisition of ATTN:, a media company that produces short-form news content for Gen Z and millennial audiences.Financial terms weren’t disclosed. According to a source familiar with the pact, Candle Media is paying about $100 million for ATTN: in cash and stock; the deal could be worth up to $150 million with additional earn-out provisions.