Sugar23 & Magilla Entertainment Team On Unscripted Slate; Set ‘The Grand Date Experiment’ As First Project

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Sugar’s Sugar23, which is behind scripted series including Dickinson and 13 Reasons Why, is ramping up its unscripted business with a partnership with Moonshiners producer Magilla Entertainment.The two companies have teamed up to develop a slate of non-scripted series, across the genre.They are working on cooking series, a prank competition series and the first project to come out of the deal is an intergenerational dating social experiment.The Grand Date Experiment (w/t) aims to address the modern dating dilemmas that exist for both single millennials and boomers, as grandparent-grandchild pairs take control of each other’s dating rituals and relationships.The partnership is being lead by Sugar23 Head of Alternative and Unscripted David Hillman and Magilla Co-Founders Laura Palumbo Johnson and Matthew Ostrom, and President Jason Fox.In addition to Discovery hit Moonshiners, Magilla makes series including Master Distiller, Diesel Brothers and Dirty Mudder Truckers for Discovery, Long Island Medium for TLC, The Cars That Built the World and American Ripper for History and HGTV franchises including Beach Front Bargain Hunt.“Matt, Laura and Jason are the best at what they do, and Sugar23 can’t wait to collaborate with them to develop content that is fresh, entertaining and forward-thinking.

Reality TV provides the fun escape that we all need, and we have found the perfect partners to make it with,” said Hillman.Ostrom added, “Sugar23 has been synonymous with quality content for some time, and we couldn’t be more excited to help usher the brand into the unscripted realm.

Michael, David and their team have such tremendous storytelling instincts and capabilities, and it’s a real pleasure to get into the