Viceland arrives in February with Spike Jonze and Eddy Moretti named co-presidents
Vice’s latest venture sees it entering into the world of cable TV with the inception of Viceland, a 24-hour lifestyle and entertainment network from Vice and entertainment media company A+E. Today (3 February) Viceland announced its leadership team ahead of the network’s official launch on 29 February.
Vice’s creative director Spike Jonze and chief creative officer Eddy Moretti have been named co-presidents of the network. They will be joined by A+E Networks’ executive vice president of marketing Guy Slattery, who will take on the role of general manager.
Jonze and Moretti will be responsible for Viceland’s brand identity, and will oversee all of the content for the network, from primetime programming to ‘Vice Lab’ interstitials and acquisitions strategy. Slattery will be responsible for daily operations, including oversight of scheduling, marketing, research, revenue and will manage the production and development units along with head of production Derek Freda.
The network will be distributed in over 70 million homes, and will feature hundreds of hours of completely new programming developed and produced entirely in-house. The lineup includes Balls Deep (with Thomas Morton), Gaycation (with Ellen Page and Ian Daniel), Noisey (with Zach Goldbaum), Flophouse, F*ck, That’s Delicious (with Action Bronson), and Weediquette (with Krishna Andavolu).
Jonze has served as Vice’s creative director since 2006, tasked with helping create the online video and documentary division. Jonze is working with talent inside the company and around the world for Viceland, to create programmes that reflect the network’s core identity: curiosity, authenticity, and point of view.
Jonze is the writer and director of the films Her (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay), Where the Wild Things Are, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. He is the co-creator and producer of the Jackass television shows and films, a co-founder of Dirt Magazine, Grand Royal Magazine and the director of numerous music videos and commercials.
As chief creative officer Moretti is responsible for content across of all of Vice’s digital channels. Moretti also oversees Vice Films, a new feature-film partnership with 20th Century Fox, and serves as the ongoing co-executive producer of the Vice series on HBO along with Shane Smith and Bill Maher.
Moretti said of Viceland: "It’s a TV channel, for sure, but a completely new kind of TV channel, more of a creative laboratory of human emotions, actually. And it’s also a bit of a beautiful new baby. We invite you to watch it grow up with us."
Slattery added: "The team at Vice has done an incredible job of creating a bold and distinctive global media brand that continues to disrupt and innovate."