London’s United Agents, the literary and talent agency that reps Kate Winslet, Olivia Colman, and Ricky Gervais, has launched a dedicated unscripted division—formalizing what had been a fragmented roster of reality, factual, and creator talent into a standalone business unit. It’s a small but clarifying signal about where agency economics are heading in 2026.
The Big Story: United Agents Goes All-In on Unscripted Representation
United Agents announced the launch of its new unscripted division this week, consolidating existing talent and adding a roster that blurs the line between traditional broadcast presenters, reality stars, and digital-first creators. The move merges the agency’s current roster—which already included recent The Traitors winner Stephen Libby and I’m a Celebrity runner-up Tom Read Wilson—with a growing slate of YouTube and TikTok creators, including Max Fosh, Hayley Morris, and The Squid Vids.
The division is being led by Holly Nicholls, formerly with talent management and production firm Gleam Futures. In the announcement, Nicholls framed the expansion as a response to the industry’s multi-platform reality: “This new division allows us to formalise that work and build on it with even greater focus and ambition.”
What makes this interesting isn’t novelty—agencies have been signing influencers and unscripted talent for years. It’s the formalization. United Agents isn’t bolting creator talent onto an existing commercial division. They’re building dedicated infrastructure, which means dedicated commission flow, dedicated development partnerships, and a bet that unscripted talent representation is scalable enough to justify its own P&L.
For producers, this matters. Agencies with vertical focus tend to package more aggressively, and United Agents already has deep relationships with U.K. broadcasters and streamers. If they can cross-pollinate their scripted relationships with unscripted pitches—attaching a known actor to host a competition format, or pairing a YouTuber with a traditional prodco for credibility—they become a meaningful player in the development conversation, not just a booking service.
Disney’s Get Real Event Signals Appetite, Not Just Maintenance
Disney held its “Get Real” unscripted TV showcase on Wednesday, April 23, and the headlines coming out of the event point to expansion, not retreat. The company announced House of Stassi, the Stassi Schroeder-led reality series set to premiere July 29 on Freeform and stream the following day on Hulu. Schroeder, a former Vanderpump Rules cast member whose 2020 firing became a flashpoint in the broader conversation about accountability in reality TV, is being positioned as the center of a show about “redefining her place in pop culture.”
Also announced: Khloé Kardashian is bringing a new show, The Girls, to Hulu. The network reiterated that The Bachelor franchise will return to ABC in 2027, with Disney’s Rob Mills telling press that “better days are ahead for the franchise.” That phrasing is doing some work—franchise fatigue has been real, and ABC’s decision to pull The Bachelorette from its March schedule earlier this year was an admission that something needed recalibrating.
The strategic read: Disney is treating unscripted as a volume play with selective franchise bets. House of Stassi is a known-name grab aimed at recapturing the Bravo diaspora. The Girls extends the Kardashian relationship in a cheaper, more controlled format than scripted. And The Bachelor comment is a hedge—Disney isn’t abandoning it, but they’re clearly not pretending the current format is working at 2019 levels.
Format Markets Return With Serious Buying Appetite
Content Europe, the Lisbon-based market running April 21–23, is drawing significant attention this year as the go-to event for format sales, factual programming, and co-production deals. The timing is deliberate: buyers are looking for cost-effective, travel-ready content, and unscripted formats check both boxes.
Nippon TV arrived in Lisbon with a slate led by Majority Rules, a social-experiment format that premiered in Japan in February and has reportedly generated strong international buyer interest since its February preview in London. Also on the slate: The Balance, a family game show, and Cooking Rush!, a high-speed culinary competition. The pitch is simplicity, tension, and plug-and-play adaptability.
Separately, Paris Unscripted Showcase (PUSH 2026) ran April 14–16, bringing together French and international producers to spotlight European formats. Companies including Fremantle, Sony Pictures Television, Mediawan, and Satisfaction Group presented new titles aimed at platforms looking to localize proven concepts rather than commission original development.
The format economy remains the most reliable revenue engine in unscripted. A single concept like The Traitors or Love Island can generate licensing fees, production royalties, and multi-territory rollout for a decade or more. For producers, the current environment favors those who can move quickly and pitch with clarity. Buyers want formats they can greenlight fast and defend internally with comps, not blue-sky development that requires two years and three executives to get to pilot.
Paramount-Warner Merger Clears Shareholders, Heads to Regulators
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted overwhelmingly on Thursday, April 23, to approve Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of the media giant. The deal, which values Warner at $31 per share, now moves to regulatory review—a process that could extend through the remainder of 2026.
For unscripted, the implications are indirect but real. Warner owns a significant portfolio of reality IP through its production labels, including shows on HBO Max, TBS, and TNT. Paramount brings MTV, VH1, CBS’s unscripted slate, and Paramount+. A combined entity would consolidate an unusual amount of commissioning power under one roof, which historically leads to fewer buyers in the market and more centralized decision-making.
The bigger consolidation story in unscripted continues to be Banijay and All3Media. Those merger talks—first reported in January and still advancing—would create a production superpower controlling Big Brother, Survivor, MasterChef, The Traitors, and over 170 production labels globally. If that deal closes before MIPCOM, it reshapes the format trade in ways that make the Paramount-Warner combination look like a sideshow.
Moves and Shakes
- Holly Nicholls has joined United Agents to lead the agency’s newly launched unscripted division, focusing on reality talent, digital creators, and factual presenters.
- Jenn Levy was named head of unscripted and documentary television at Amazon MGM Studios, consolidating oversight of Amazon MGM Unscripted, MGM Alternative, Big Fish Entertainment, and Evolution Media under one executive.
- Stassi Schroeder has a series order at Freeform/Hulu with House of Stassi, premiering July 29.
- Khloé Kardashian is developing The Girls for Hulu, expanding the Kardashian-Jenner footprint on the platform.
- Nippon TV‘s Gyokuro Studio is selling Majority Rules, The Balance, and Cooking Rush! at Content Europe 2026 in Lisbon, with buyer interest building since February screenings.
- Sphere Abacus closed a raft of international sales ahead of Realscreen Summit, placing true crime and factual titles with BBC Select, RTL Germany, Foxtel Group, and Viasat World.