Jesse Collins Entertainment Names New Execs: John Wehage Boards As Head Of Production & Karen Grant-Selma Joins As Head Of Business & Legal Affairs

Jesse Collins Entertainment President Dionne Harmon announced today that John Wehage has joined the company as Executive Vice President, Head of Production of the full-service Emmy-winning production company. Karen Grant-Selma will lead the company’s in-house legal team as Executive Vice President, Head of Business & Legal Affairs. Both will report to Harmon.

Wehage will oversee the physical production of all of the company’s specials, scripted and unscripted television content. With a career spanning over two decades, he has had various leadership positions across a variety of formats spanning hundreds of hours of programming including stage, live, competition, docu-follow, gameshow, digital, documentary and adventure programming. Most recently with Scout Productions, he contributed to the success of acclaimed shows such as Legendary (HBO Max), The Hype (HBO Max), Merpeople (Netflix), The Secrets of Hillsong (FX), The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning (Peacock) and the Emmy Award winning Queer Eye (Netflix).

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Prior to Scout, Wehage was Head of Production at 495 Productions, overseeing finance, accounting, production and operations. During his tenure, he managed the production of hit shows including Jersey Shore Family Vacation (MTV), Floribama Shore (MTV), Peace of Mind with Taraji (Facebook Watch), Pushing The Line (Discovery+), Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party (VH1) and Double Shot At Love (MTV).  Wehage is member of the Television Academy’s Production Executive Peer Group and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Southern California. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

Grant-Selma will lead the legal and business affairs department.  She previously served as Head of Business and Legal Affairs at OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network where she negotiated talent, production and license deals for scripted and unscripted programming and oversaw its standards & practices, international sales, intellectual property, human resources, union administration, insurance, participations, rights management and risk assessment. Grant-Selma was instrumental in negotiating deals for the network’s series including Queen Sugar, David Makes Man, The Kings of Napa, All Rise, the Love & Marriage franchise, Super Soul Sunday, Ready to Love and Put A Ring On It.

Her experience spans more than 20 years, including time spent at DreamWorks Animation, Live Nation, Universal Pictures, Maker Studios, AMC Networks, ITV Studios America and NBCUniversal. She began her transactional career in private practice under the tutelage of legal icon Nina Shaw. Grant-Selma is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the British Academy of Film & Television Arts (LA). She received her B.S. of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Miami and the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law is where she received her Juris Doctor and also sits on its Board of Councilors.

The duo joins JCE’s 20+ person staff and leadership team that includes Founder & CEO Jesse Collins, President Harmon, CFO Monique Jones, EVP of Scripted Content for TV & Film Tracey Kemble, EVP of Unscripted Content & Alternative Programming Madison Merritt, SVP of Current Unscripted Content Elaine Metaxas, VP of Unscripted Content Tahira Francis, SVP of Specials Jeannae Rouzan-Clay and VP of Unscripted Production Yanina Molina.

Jesse Collins Entertainment was most recently named as the production company for The 2023 Emmy Awards.  The company made history in 2022, along with RocNation and DPS, when The Pepsi SB LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent won the first ever Emmy Award for the show in the Outstanding Variety Special category.

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