Season three of E!‘s Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry is airing Wednesdays at 9p, with celebs looking for advice, connections and closure. Stephanie Drachkovitch, 44 Blue Co-Founder and President talks about what’s different this time around.
Cynopsis: How is this season of Hollywood Medium be different?
Stephanie Drachkovitch: We feel like we’ve gotten our biggest and most surprising celebs yet, like Jim Parsons, Megan Fox, Chrissy Metz, David & Rosanna Arquette, Iggy Azalea and Ronda Rousey. Plus big personalities that E! viewers love, such as Kristin Cavallari, Padma Lakshmi, and top “Bravolebrities” like Teresa Giudice, Luann DeLesseps and Erika Jayne Girardi.
Tyler was able to give closure to several celebrities and their families around unresolved deaths. We also tried to break the fourth wall more often to show those more intimate, unfiltered moments around Tyler, such as when production is still setting up as he sits down with the celebrity for the first time and they are getting settled. Some of the funniest and most candid moments come then! Like Tyler confessing to Gigi Gorgeous that learned about concealer by watching her videos!
And one of the most exciting new developments was taking Tyler into some new formats and platforms—working with E!’s
amazing digital team, US Olympian Gus Kenworthy’s reading was distributed natively via digital, and 44 Blue’s digital content studio Ovrture created Hollywood Medium’s first 360 reading experience for E!’s marketing with model & influencer Gigi Gorgeous, which premiered on her YouTube channel.
Cynopsis: How do you find celebrities to participate on the show? Or do they find you?
Drachkovitch: Several ways. We’re very honored and fortunate to have many celebrities and influencers reach out to us for a reading since many have become fans of Tyler’s from watching the show or have heard from a celebrity friend about what an incredible experience it is to have a reading with him. But, we also reach out to celebrities and newsmakers who we think E! viewers would like to see.
Cynopsis: 44 Blue produces a range of genres – what are the particular challenges of each?
We feel super fortunate at 44 Blue to be able to produce such a wide range of content, and each show comes with its own unique challenges, for sure! Someone once said of us that one of 44 Blue’s strengths is being “comfortable in uncomfortable places…” which is true! Over the years we’ve dealt with a lot of difficult subject matter, so we’ve learned to be good listeners and creative problem-solvers! Our first responder series A&E’s Nightwatch deals with sensitive, often life-or-death situations. Pitbulls & Parolees, which just finished its 9th season, deals with real-life stakes of rescue and adoption in a city that’s had to rise up to overcome multiple hurricanes and floods in recent years. But for Hollywood Medium, sometimes our biggest challenge is having more celebrities who want readings than we have time to shoot! We wish we could just shoot year-round!
The Cynsiders column is a platform for industry leaders to reach out to colleagues, followers, and the public at large. In their own words and in targeted Q&As, columnists address breaking news, issues of the day, and the larger changes going on in the ever-evolving world of television, video and digital. Cynsiders columns live on Cynopsis’ main page and are promoted across all daily newsletters. We welcome readers’ comments, queries, and column ideas at Lynn@Cynopsis.com.
