Paramount Global alum Jeff Shultz is taking the helm of Radial Entertainment, the recently formed entertainment company encompassing FilmRise and Shout! Studios, as CEO.
Shultz most recently was chief strategy officer and chief business development officer of Paramount Streaming, where he oversaw strategy, distribution and business development for both Paramount+ and Pluto TV. He exited the company at the end of 2024.
Shultz starts as CEO of Radial Entertainment effective Jan. 1, 2026. In the CEO role, he succeeds Garson Foos, the co-founder of Shout! Studios who is becoming executive chairman of Radial Entertainment alongside Danny Fisher, co-founder of FilmRise.
Radial Entertainment was formed this summer, backed by funds managed by investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, after Oaktree acquired streaming content distributor FilmRise and merged it with existing portfolio company Shout! Studios. The merged company has a catalog of more than 70,000 movies and TV episodes, including such franchises as “Unsolved Mysteries,” “Forensic Files,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” and films from the Open Road, Millennium and Sonar libraries.
About the CEO transition, Jared Frandle, managing director for Oaktree’s special situations strategy, said in a statement, “We are extremely grateful for all of Garson’s efforts in guiding us through the seamless transition of this exciting merger. His leadership from the very beginning of our partnership with Shout and through this pivotal period laid a strong foundation for Radial’s future growth. We are now thrilled to welcome Jeff — a highly seasoned veteran of the streaming industry and a uniquely qualified media executive — to lead Radial into this next chapter.”
Shultz joined Pluto TV, the free, ad-supported streaming TV start-up, as chief business officer in early 2018, after serving as an adviser to the company for three years. A year later, Viacom acquired the free, ad-supported streaming startup for $340 million. At Paramount, he was a key member of the executive team that launched Paramount+. Prior to Pluto TV, Shultz held senior leadership roles in digital business development at media companies including NBC and CBS and internet TV start-ups Clicker and Concert TV, which he co-founded.
Shultz said in a statement: “I’m fortunate to inherit an exceptional team and the legacy of two highly successful brands. I am fully aligned with Garson, Danny and the Oaktree team on a shared vision to build Radial into one of the most valuable independent players in the global streaming market.” He said Radial, with Shout! and FilmRise under one umbrella, “is uniquely positioned to capture the massive opportunity in the rapidly evolving media market, leveraging its financial scale, vast and compelling catalog, and expansive and diversified distribution, all amplified by Oaktree’s support.”
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Radial’s executive chairmen Foos and Fisher, in a joint statement, said about Shultz, “Jeff brings extraordinary expertise as an industry leader. He has great expertise in the free-streaming market and a proven builder of high-growth businesses, having led Pluto TV and Paramount Streaming through periods of remarkable expansion.”
Since its formation, Radial has inked several strategic deals including acquiring Conan O’Brien’s Emmy-winning late-night talk show “Conan” and horror series “Hemlock Grove” and securing two new true-crime co-production deals, “Murder in Mind” and “Pushed to Death.” It also launched the Hong Kong Fight Club FAST channel and added the Golden Princess film library to its global distribution slate.
From Variety US