Fireworks Media Group’s Jesse Fawcett on Innovation in Unscripted

Veteran producer Jesse Fawcett founded Fireworks Media Group in 2021, and in just this short amount of time, has been able to produce hit series that cut through in the U.S., Canada and the wider international market.

“To cut through and stand out in any genre, you really need to find new ways to tell your stories,” says Fawcett, who also serves as CEO. He offers Pamela’s Garden of Eden as a prime example. “That one breaks the mold by taking a traditional home renovation story, which tends to be really tightly formatted, and we shot it over a really long period in a real documentary style. The result is this new hybrid home show that has all the energy of a renovation show but the depth of story of a traditional doc.”

In the series, Pamela Anderson works on renovating her grandmother’s six-acre property on Vancouver Island as well as her son’s newly purchased home in Los Angeles. The unique “hybrid home show,” as Fawcett describes it, found success in Canada on HGTV and recently scored a second season renewal.

Another key way to cut through in the crowded unscripted market is by featuring talent who are passionate about what they do and exude charisma, Fawcett says. With the success of Pamela’s Garden of Eden and Anderson’s on-camera personality, a new series with Anderson at the helm was ordered recently, this time in the cooking space. Pamela’s Cooking with Love will see her learn more about cooking and then use her knowledge to cater various events for her friends and family, whether it be a casual afternoon cocktail party or an intimate dinner.

Though Fireworks Media Group has found success within the home renovation and lifestyle genres, as evidenced by the quick orders of both Anderson series, Fawcett points out that it does so much more. “I have a long history in the home genre that I’m very proud of,” he says. “But we’re not limited to home and lifestyle. We have a big development slate with everything from relationship shows to crime to celebrity-driven soaps.”

For 2023, Fireworks Media Group has committed to a slate of over 60 hours of content thus far, Fawcett says. This includes a wide variety of genres, including those in the home-reno space like Small Town Potential, as well as those in more niche genres such as paranormal. The company recently partnered with paranormal investigator Aaron Sagers to develop Shadow Vortex: Path of Evil, for one.

“We’ve got a lot coming out [in 2023] in a number of new genres,” Fawcett says. “We’re a genre-agnostic company.”

No matter the genre, Fawcett and Fireworks remain committed to finding new ways to evolve and improve unscripted storytelling. “My view has always been that innovation in television is driven by constant evolution, rather than big revolutions,” Fawcett says. “We see that in the maturation of how we tell stories in unscripted. We used to be able to hang a show concept on a catchy longline, but audiences now expect multiple layers of character dynamics and neat graphic styles and high-end cinematography. It’s great. Unscripted is constantly elevating and challenging itself nowadays.”

Fawcett notes that he founded Fireworks in order to focus on creating unique series, such as Pamela’s Garden of Eden. “Being an indie allows me the flexibility to focus on my passion projects and on quality over quantity,” he says. “I wanted to build a company where good people can make great shows and have a great time doing it. I love the team that we’ve built. I love what we’re making.”

And allowing your team to focus on passion projects and experiment with genres pays off, he adds. “I believe in prioritizing creativity and people first and that, if you do that, the money will follow.”