"Hello Sunshine" Reese Witherspoon is a Book Club Mogul


When readers talk about famous people’s book clubs, they tend to focus on the biggest name in the game- Oprah, of course.  But for me, the name I have been following is that sneaky little Southerner, Reese Witherspoon.  This Legally Blonde actress went from a gal starring in Rom-Coms to a producing genius whose company Hello Sunshine has, according to an article from The Hollywood Reporter, “tentacles in television, film, podcasts and publishing, with an online book club poised to one day rival Oprah's,” (Rose, 2019).  It is one thing to have a celebrity book club, lots of celebrities do, and Instagram about it as this Bookstr article espouses.  However, Reese is a different animal.  She has turned her Hello Sunshine book club into a producing engine of new and acclaimed Hollywood film and TV shows.  The first three books turned movies/shows: Gone Girl, Wild, and Big Little Lies opened the door for Witherspoon into what is now a thriving and functioning production company- find great female-led and female story-driven books and turn them into Hollywood gold.  Thanks to those first three, Witherspoon is now known for having just the right touch in finding female-driven novels, often in galley form, and putting her book-club stamp on them, then putting her Hollywood shine on them too.  Now she has something on all the streaming platforms- Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and the upcoming movie The Dry based on the award-winning debut novel of Australian author Jane Harper, which she also stars in.  Not to mention that it is nearly impossible to go into a bookstore and not see a swath of titles with “Reese’s Book Club” stickers splashed on their covers.


Witherspoon bills Hello Sunshine as a mission-driven company.  The website proudly states, “Hello Sunshine is on a mission to change the narrative for women.” Noting that the multi-faceted media company, “Puts women at the center of every story we create, celebrate and discover. We tell stories we love–from big to small, funny to complex–all shining a light on where women are now and helping them chart a new path forward,” (https://hello-sunshine.com/our-story).  But make no mistake- it is also a vehicle for her and her career.  She is finding projects she wants to act in, and doing it in a way that few Hollywood stars manage to do so effectively.

I have yet to fully decide my take on this, part of me is proud as hell of how determined and brilliant Witherspoon is.  She saw what was lacking, made a connection, and is benefitting handsomely from her smart decisions.  She is creating movies people want to watch with a female-driven focus that was initially baffling to the old male cronies in Hollywood.  However, this is all still fairly new territory.  It’s all sunshine and gold right now, but I cannot help and wonder what the future will truly hold for her production company, and if at some point, she is going to start hawking sub-par stories or watering down the values of what is currently a great beacon of hope in Hollywood.  Only time will tell.  But for now, when I finish my novel, I’d love the galley to end up on Reese’s desk- because that might mean Hello Sunshine Book Club status or Hollywood- and I’d take either one. 

References:

Hello Sunshine. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2020, from https://hello-sunshine.com/
Liao, A. (2017, June 30). Celebrity Book Clubs Create Virtual Reading Community. Retrieved February 27, 2020, from https://bookstr.com/article/celebrity-book-clubs-create-virtual-reading-community/
Reese's Book Club- The Latest Pick. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2020, from https://hello-sunshine.com/book-club
Rose, L. (2019, December 11). How Reese Witherspoon Took Charge of her Career and Changed Hollywood. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/how-reese-witherspoon-took-charge-her-career-changed-hollywood-1260203

Comments

  1. Shelby O'MalleyFebruary 27, 2020 at 1:26 PM

    I enjoyed reading your thoughts on Reese Witherspoon's book club/production company. She is exactly who I thought of as well, since she is the main celebrity book club that I personally follow on social media. What I love about her company is that she chooses books/projects that stay true to her brand. I personally hope that the standards remain high for future projects, but if the popularity does wane (like with Oprah), I think her approach is paving the way for new women-driven projects that the world needs to see.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SusanFebruary 29, 2020 at 1:37 PM

    I see Hello Sunshine books all the time- my library even made a display specifically for them- but I'd never thought about using the book club as a stepping stone for her production company. I really should've put two and two together before, but your post was really insightful! Thank you for pointing that out. This is also a really interesting "next step" for book clubs- I'd been thinking about them in terms of "all the coverage is social media-based now" but that kind of book-to-movie horizontal integration is an even stronger (and more worrying) evolution. Great point!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shannon RollinsMarch 2, 2020 at 10:43 AM

    Brilliant. You did a great job digging into this. I follow her on Instagram and she's promoting the snot out of her book club, her work, and her Drapper James line like a Boss. I stand by the belief that I'm not mad that she (and others) are using their celebrity in this way. I hope against hope that it isn't all a ploy and that they really are reading these titles, not just taking a publicist's recommendation and promoting them. That, to me, would be the real controversy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Erin CataldiMarch 4, 2020 at 11:52 AM

    Great job going beyond just her book club to the bigger mission of her tying her production company to promote female authors. Well written, funny, and accurate. FANTASTIC response. Full points!

    ReplyDelete

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