Kelsey Jackson Joins Wise Child Studios As Head of Scripted (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Wise Child Studios has appointed Kelsey Jackson as Head of Scripted, as it looks to scale up its narrative film and television business.

Jackson joins after nearly four years as VP Narrative TV at Archer Gray, where she helped build out the television division. In her new role, she will oversee Wise Child’s scripted slate and help lead its strategy across development, packaging, financing, and production, working with founder and CEO Jason Beekman to expand the company’s footprint.

“Kelsey has exactly the kind of taste, drive, and creator-first instincts we want defining the next chapter of Wise Child,” Beekman said. “As our scripted business grows alongside our documentary and unscripted work, Kelsey is the right creative leader to help us scale without losing the hands-on, collaborative approach that makes Wise Child different.”

Jackson’s background spans both television and features, with experience on acclaimed series including American Horror Story and American Crime Story, as well as Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Sundance-winning Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. She most recently served as a co-producer on Netflix’s hit To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise.

News of Jackson’s hiring comes following the unveiling of Wise Child’s docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model to No. 1 on Netflix in February.

“What excites me about Wise Child is that the company’s documentary foundation gives its scripted work a real point of view,” Jackson told us. “Jason has built a slate rooted in true stories and complicated characters—and that background creates a unique lane for scripted projects that feel grounded, resonant, and alive. So much of what Wise Child is developing in documentary has a natural creative conversation with the scripted side, and that parallel approach is incredibly exciting.”

We announced the launch of Wise Child, a production company headed up by veteran entertainment lawyer and business strategist Beekman and former Imagine Documentaries showrunner Ryan Miller, in 2023. Jackson joins as the company gains momentum on the narrative side with projects including On the End, a drama starring Tim Blake Nelson that’s based on the true story of a down-on-his-luck Montauk mechanic. Written and directed by Ari Selinger, the film screened at TIFF Industry Selects and premiered at the Hamptons Film Festival before riding the festival circuit, winning the Audience Award at Sarasota and Best Film and Best Actress for Mireille Enos at the Rome Film Festival.

Upcoming, Wise Child is set to produce Pickups, a feature comedy from Toronto filmmaker and actor Andy Reid, alongside producers Lucy McNulty and Alison Almeida. Expanding on Reid’s short film Testing, the film follows a lonely gay man chasing validation who takes a job as a tap dance teacher and develops a fixation on the father of his favorite student.

Their slate also includes The Paper Man, based on the Black List script by Sean O’Keefe. Set against the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe, the historical sports drama tells the true story of Matthias “The Paper Man” Sindelar, Austria’s greatest footballer, whose grace, intellect, and quiet rebellion made him both a national hero and a target of the Nazi regime.

Wise Child is represented by CAA.