Founder and president, 495 Productions
Read Salsano's full bio here
This story first appeared in the Oct. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Oxygen is adding more heart and strong personalities to its unscripted roster of “Live Out Loud” models, singers and dancers, putting five female-skewing docuseries in development.
The female-skewing cable network, under senior vp original programming Rod Aissa, is continuing its push to grow its original programming by 50 percent adding unscripted efforts from established producers including Jersey Shore‘s SallyAnn Salsano and BermanBraun’s Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun.
Joining Oxygen’s development slate are Gorgeous & Guilty (working title), from Salsano’s 495 Productions, which investigates the women tangled up in the scandals of the century. Each installment will offer news footage and dramatic re-enactments to help uncover the motives involved in each case. The effort is considered a potential companion piece to Oxygen’s long-running Snapped (which is in its ninth season).
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From the producers of The Biggest Loser comes Fat Girl Revenge, which will follow women who confront their past tormenters for revenge after “getting gorgeous.” 3 Ball Productions’ JD Roth, Todd Nelson, Brant Pinvidic and Adam Kaloustain will executive produce the entry, which takes the makeover format a step further.
The cabler will explore the world of female comedians with Funny Girls, which hails from Brownstone Entertainment’s Drew Brown and Bob Gillan, the producers of Project Runway and Barter Kings, respectively. Funny Girls will explore comedians as they attempt to break the glass ceiling of the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy.
Dating series Heart and Soul, meanwhile, will revolve around Natalie Clarice‘s Miami matchmaking agency for urban professional women as the agency provides custom relationship services. The project hails from Endemol and Jerseylicious EP Alex Duda.
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The network will also head to the altar with Shotgun Weddings with BermanBraun’s Shotgun Weddings, which will see couples race to tie the knot before the bride delivers. Berman, Braun, Gene Stein and Chris Cowan will executive produce.
“Oxygen is focused on developing unique and noisy new series that truly capture every emotion of our young, female viewers,” Oxygen Media senior vp development Cori Abraham said. “Whether it’s about getting revenge or unapologetically pursuing your dreams, our development team has done a phenomenal job of continuing to build the network’s slate with diverse and innovative shows that reflect our audience.”
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Noting that the network is looking to create “franchise” series, Aissa said he sees that potential in all five of the development titles. “This slate represents a broad array of interests for the modern woman; it’s just not one-note or one genre specific.”
If ordered to series, the projects would join an Oxygen roster that includes The Glee Project and All the Right Moves.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit
