Pacific Standard (company)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Founder | Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rodsky |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people | Sarah Harden (CEO), Lauren Levy Neustadter (President) |
| Products | Film, television, digital media, podcasts |
| Parent | Candle Media (since 2021) |
Hello Sunshine is a U.S.-based media company established in 2016 by actress Reese Witherspoon alongside Seth Rodsky, founder of Strand Equity.
History
In 2000, Witherspoon launched her production venture Type A Films, which later merged with Bruna Papandrea's Make Movies banner in 2012 to form Pacific Standard. This company was behind acclaimed projects such as Gone Girl, Wild, and the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies. By 2016, Witherspoon assumed full ownership after parting ways with Papandrea.
Later that year, in November 2016, Witherspoon and Rodsky collaborated to create Hello Sunshine, a joint enterprise with Otter Media, a subsidiary of The Chernin Group and AT&T. The venture concentrates on storytelling centered around women across film, television, and digital media. Kerry Tucker initially held the CEO position, followed by Sarah Harden taking over in 2017. That same year, Lauren Levy Neustadter was appointed Head of Film and Television and subsequently promoted to President.
Pacific Standard was integrated as a division within Hello Sunshine. Additionally, the company manages Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine, an initiative spotlighting women's narratives that boasts over three million followers on Instagram. Hello Sunshine also organized a Filmmaker Lab aimed at teaching filmmaking skills to girls aged 13 to 18.
On July 10, 2018, AT&T introduced the Hello Sunshine Channel, a cable and satellite television outlet dedicated to female-focused content, drawing parallels to the Oprah Winfrey Network. The company produced short-form unscripted series for Facebook Watch and IGTV and launched the podcast How It Is in April 2018, originally hosted by Diane Guerrero with later seasons featuring Kelly McCreary.
In July 2018, Hello Sunshine premiered the talk show Shine On with Reese on DirecTV, where Witherspoon interviewed women about their accomplishments. October of that year marked the debut of the podcast My Best Break-Up, hosted by comedian Maeve Higgins.
November 2018 saw Hello Sunshine partner with Together Live for a nationwide tour featuring speakers such as Halima Aden, Yara Shahidi, and Sophia Bush. Excerpts from this event will be featured in the forthcoming podcast And Especially You, hosted by Bush.
By February 2019, Emerson Collective, led by Laurene Powell Jobs, invested in Hello Sunshine while Otter Media increased its ownership share.
Following an exploration of potential sales involving parties like Apple, Witherspoon sold a portion of Hello Sunshine in August 2021 to Candle Media, a Blackstone-backed media firm headed by former Disney executives Kevin A. Mayer and Tom Staggs, for $900 million. Both Witherspoon and CEO Harden maintained equity stakes and positions on the board.
In February 2023, Hello Sunshine discontinued its children’s and animation segment with plans to collaborate with Candle Media’s subsidiary Moonbug Entertainment. By July 2024, Candle Media consolidated its live-action properties under the newly formed Candle Studios division, appointing Sarah Harden as its leader.
Upcoming projects
Witherspoon continues collaborating with Bruna Papandrea on various projects including Luckiest Girl Alive at Lionsgate/Summit, All Is Not Forgotten at Warner Bros., and Ashley's War at Fox 2000. They also work together under Pacific Standard’s overall agreement with ABC.
In May 2017, Hello Sunshine initiated adaptations of two novels: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman. The company also produced a documentary focused on tennis icon Martina Navratilova.
The film rights for The Gilded Years were acquired by Hello Sunshine, with Zendaya attached to star in the adaptation titled A White Lie. Witherspoon was slated to lead and produce Legally Blonde 3, originally set for release on Valentine’s Day 2020 but currently postponed indefinitely. In November 2018, plans were announced to produce the novel League of Wives with Fox 2000; however, following Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox and subsequent closure of Fox 2000, the project’s future is unclear.
As of February 2020, Hello Sunshine had six television series under development across prominent platforms such as Apple TV+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, ABC, Starz, and Netflix. Witherspoon stars in one series and serves as executive producer on all six.
In March 2022, Hello Sunshine revealed production plans for Run, Rose, Run, a film based on a novel co-written by Dolly Parton and James Patterson, with Parton set to star.
August 2022 marked Hello Sunshine's expansion into unscripted content through launching a dedicated division in the United Kingdom.
Films
| Year | Title | Director | Gross (worldwide) | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Wild | Jean-Marc Vallée | $52.5 million | Created under Pacific Standard Received two Oscar nominations |
| Gone Girl | David Fincher | $369.3 million | Produced by Pacific Standard Earned one Oscar nomination | |
| 2015 | Hot Pursuit | Anne Fletcher | $51.7 million | Developed as a Pacific Standard production |
| 2019 | Lucy in the Sky | Noah Hawley | $325,950 | Produced through Pacific Standard |
| 2022 | Where the Crawdads Sing | Olivia Newman | $140.2 million | |
| Something from Tiffany's | Daryl Wein | — | Hello Sunshine's inaugural film Co-produced with Amazon Studios | |
| 2023 | Your Place or Mine | Aline Brosh McKenna | — | |
| 2025 | You're Cordially Invited | Nicholas Stoller | — | |
| TBA | Ashley's War | — | Distributed by Universal Pictures; co-produced alongside Made Up Stories |
Television
| Year | Title | Network | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–present | Big Little Lies | HBO | Produced under Pacific Standard Season 1 garnered sixteen Emmy nominations, winning eight |
| 2018 | Shine On with Reese | DirecTV | |
| Master the Mess | |||
| 2019–present | The Morning Show | Apple TV+ | |
| 2019–2023 | Truth Be Told | ||
| 2020 | Little Fires Everywhere | Hulu | |
| 2022–present | Surface | Apple TV+ | |
| 2022 | From Scratch | Netflix | |
| 2023 | Daisy Jones & the Six | Amazon Prime Video | |
| My Kind of Country | Apple TV+ | Reality competition show | |
| Tiny Beautiful Things | Hulu | ||
| The Last Thing He Told Me | Apple TV+ | ||
| 2024 | Side Hustlers | The Roku Channel | |
| Influenced | Amazon Prime Video | ||
| The Pasta Queen | Amazon Prime Video | ||
| 2025 | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | ABC | |
| F1: The Academy | Netflix | ||
| 2026 | Elle | Amazon Prime Video | Currently in development |
| TBA | Untitled Sara Saedi comedy series | ABC | |
| TBA | Kin | Starz | |
| TBA | Tiny Trailblazers | Disney Jr. | |
| TBA | All Stars | Amazon Prime Video |
Web series
| Year | Title | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Handmade*mostly | Facebook Watch |
| 2018 | Turning Point | |
| 2018 | Meet My Mom | Facebook Watch and IGTV |
Podcasts
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2018–present | How It Is | |
| 2018 | My Best Break-Up | |
| 2019–present | And Especially You |