Amazon Studios Names Chris Castallo Head of Unscripted TV

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Amazon Studios has tapped industry veteran Chris Castallo to serve as head of unscripted television.

Castallo, formerly a programming exec at CBS and NBC, replaces Heather Schuster, who was forced out in August amid an investigation into allegations that she was verbally abusive in the workplace.

Castallo will spearhead unscripted development for . He will be tasked with shepherding two big projects in the works for Amazon: the revival of Mark Burnett’s “Eco-Challenge” with Bear Grylls as host, and the fashion-centric series to be toplined by “Project Runway” alums Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum. He reports to Albert Cheng and Vernon Sanders, Amazon Studios’ co-heads of television.

Castallo comes to Amazon Studios after working at Verizon’s now-shuttered go90 content platform, which he joined in August 2017. Before that he spent 10 years at CBS, rising to exec VP and head of unscripted programming where he steered “Survivor,” “The Amazing Race,” “Undercover Boss” and “Big Brother,” among other unscripted series.

Earlier in his career, Castallo worked in scripted programming at NBC and at Tollin/Robbins Productions.