Candle Media Aligns with James Goldston for New Studio

James Goldston, the former head of ABC News, is teaming with Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media for a new studio focused on scripted and non-scripted premium storytelling based on true stories.

Goldston spent almost two decades at ABC News, with seven as president. Under his watch, The Dropout, produced by Rebecca Jarvis and her team, became a successful podcast, documentary and Emmy-award-winning scripted series for Hulu. The division also produced John’s Ridley’s Let it Fall, a documentary on the L.A. riots. After leaving ABC News in 2021, he founded Aquitania Films to create documentary films, with that slate now moving over to Candle Media. He also produced the January 6 hearings in Washington, D.C.

“Kevin and Tom have built a best-in-class team of storytellers at Candle Media,” said Goldston. “I’m thrilled to work with this brilliant group to create premium content based on the most compelling true-life stories.”

Mayer and Staggs added: “We have known James for many years, through our collective time together at Disney. He is a world-class storyteller, with a unique ability to turn real-life stories into engaging, premium content across a variety of formats and platforms. We look forward to working with him to integrate and expand these capabilities as part of Candle.”