Apple TV+ Bolsters Unscripted Team With Erika Clarke & Colleen Grogan Hires

Former Spotify exec Erika Clarke and ex-Lifetime exec Colleen Grogan have joined Apple TV+ as the streamer ramps up its non-scripted efforts.

The two hires are the first U.S.-based unscripted executives hired by Molly Thompson since the A& IndieFilms founder Molly Thompson joined as Head of Documentaries and Unscripted in 2019.

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Both join as Unscripted Creative Executives reporting to Thompson.

Clarke, who joined in January, was previously exec producer at Spotify Studios, where she co-ran the company’s podcast studio division. Before that, she spent ten years at MTV, part of the team behind Cribs, and was also a producer and director of shows such as The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Travel Channel’s Follow Your Past and CNN Heroes. She was also nominated for an Emmy for her work on White People, a documentary for MTV’s Look Different strand. She will be based in LA.

Grogan, who joined last September, was previously SVP of development for Breaking Amish producer Hot Snakes Media. Prior to that, she was VP of non-fiction for Lifetime, where she oversaw series including Bring It!, Coming Home and The Week The Women Went. She also exec produced short film Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl), which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. She is based in New York.

Apple’s slate of documentaries and unscripted series includes Boys State, Beastie Boys Story, Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry and upcoming The Supermodels from Imagine Documentaries and Barbara Kopple and Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground.

Last year, the company hired former BBC factual chief Alison Kirkham as unscripted chief in the UK, reporting to creative director of worldwide video Europe, Jay Hunt.

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