Global Courant
Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper and Ace Entertainment CEO Matt Kaplan have formed a media venture, Trending, that will target Gen Z audiences with programming across film, TV, audio, live events and more.
Trending will serve as the parent company of Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast brand, which has a major exclusive deal with Spotify, and Kaplan’s Ace Entertainment, which specializes in projects for young-adult viewers and recently produced XO, Kitty, the spin-off to the Netflix hit film To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
Ace Entertainment, which Kaplan founded in 2017 after leading the film division for Awesomeness, will handle the financing, production and distribution of Trending projects, while Cooper will lead the audience engagement and franchising elements of the company, Kaplan said. At launch, Cooper and Kaplan will lead Trending but are expected to build out the team in the future, a representative for the recently engaged couple told The Hollywood Reporter.
Upcoming projects for Ace Entertainment, which finances and produces five films a year, include Love at First Sight for Netflix with Haley Lu Richardson and Love in Tapei for Paramount+ with Ross Butler, Nico Hiraga and Ashley Liao.
Cooper’s Call Her Daddy continues to be exclusively available on Spotify as part of a roughly $60 million licensing deal and ranks as the top podcast for women on Spotify. Recent guests have included Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Aguilera, John Legend and Jane Fonda, among others.
“Every day I interact with countless young people who push the boundaries behind the stereotypes and misconceptions we often hear about Gen Z,” Cooper said in a statement. “Gen Z is the revolutionary voice of a new generation. Their voices and opinions should be supported with content designed for them in ways that are unique to their values, interests and passions.”
