Nearly two years to the day after he was pushed out at Viacom-owned TV Land, Larry Jones has lined up his next act.
The former TV Land president has been tapped to serve as CEO of virtual reality firm Blackthorn Media, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
In his new role, Jones will lead the company’s business and creative strategies, including development, production, distribution, marketing and finance of all original content. He will be based in Los Angeles and report to Blackthorn creative director and president Michael Conelly.
“We are thrilled to win Larry’s interest in Blackthorn,” Conelly said. “The field is evolving quickly, but content remains king and Larry’s background in entertainment meshes perfectly with our vision for a VR-first studio cultivating a library of cutting-edge, story-driven experiences that our audiences will literally step into in the coming years.”
Established in 2014, Blackthorn Media is a VR studio whose credits include The Abbot’s Book, a fully immersive VR narrative told over eight episodes that was featured in the New Frontier program at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, as well as Dragonflight, which was featured at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Jones has more than 20 years of experience and oversaw TV Land’s entry into the scripted programming space with Hot in Cleveland as well as the cable network’s rebranding toward younger-skewing single-camera fare that has helped push the Viacom brand into more critically praised programming. He was responsible for kicking off that strategy with Darren Star’s Younger, among others.
Jones was let go in February 2015 as part of Viacom’s restructuring.
