Chris Coelen

Chris Coelen (born 1968) is an American television creator and producer.

He created and produces Love Is Blind, The Ultimatum, Perfect Match and the American version of Married at First Sight.

Coelen was born in 1968 in New Brunswick, N.J and was raised in Massachusetts in a family with multi-cultural heritage; including his mother's Native American background, his father's Dutch-Irish background, and siblings of Vietnamese and Korean descent.

While in college, Coelen wanted to be a journalist and obtained an internship at Fox, with a division called Fox Entertainment News, which produced a daily business-focused entertainment news program.

Moving to LA at 21, he was hired on staff at Fox as a news producer after procuring an interview with Kelsey Grammer, who was appearing in court on drug charges.

In 1992, Coelen joined the Agency for the Performing Arts and began representing on-air talent.

His first client was a morning news anchor in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; his roster grew to include Martha Quinn, Rex Reed, Maty Monfort, Jane Wallace and Ryan Seacrest.

In 1996, Coelen joined United Talent Agency, becoming a member of the talent department.

In 2001, coinciding with the American emergence of Survivor, Coelen created the Alternative Department, and subsequently became a partner at the agency.

At UTA, Coelen represented producer clients such as Stan Lee (Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics), Michael Davies (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire), R.J. Cutler (American High), Thom Beers (Monster Garage), Craig Piligian (Survivor), Cris Abrego, Mark Cronin, Joel Gallen (A Tribute to Heroes, MTV Movie Awards), Gay Rosenthal (Behind the Music), Bill Guttentag (Crime & Punishment), Andrew Glassman (The Wall), Stuart Krasnow (Weakest Link), World of Wonder (RuPaul's Drag Race), Evolution Media (Real Housewives Of Orange County), and publisher Judith Regan.

Having been exposed to British TV shows like The Word, The Big Breakfast, and TFI Friday, Coelen stated "I couldn't work out why there was nothing like it on TV in the US," and he expanded his client base to include British production companies like Red Production Company, Shed, Wall to Wall, Monkey Kingdom, Maverick, Objective Media Group, Avalon, Ricochet and RDF Media, leading UTA to become known as "the agency of choice for UK Indies."

In 2005, Colin Robertson from Broadast described Coelen as "an alarmingly youthful bloke who looks as if he’d rather be perched on a surfboard than sitting in an air-conditioned office, (he) is a huge fan of British producers."

Coelen represented International personalities such as Graham Norton, Derren Brown, and Jo Frost and expanded beyond the UK, representing companies in Holland (Absolutely Independent), Sweden (Strix) and New Zealand's Julie Christie (Touchdown Television).

Said Coelen "There are smart TV producers in every market in the world. The U.S. doesn't have a lock on that."

Coelen's client roster included American talent including Jessica Simpson, Ryan Seacrest, Pamela Anderson, Trading Spaces host Paige Davis, Jeopardy's Ken Jennings, Carmen Electra, Michael Weatherly, and Paget Brewster.

While at UTA, Coelen helped package over five dozen projects including Wife Swap, Supernanny, Average Joe, The Simple Life, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, Worst Case Scenario, The Residents, Stripperella, Law & Order: Crime & Punishment (with agency client Dick Wolf).

As an agent, Coelen came up with the concept for The Surreal Life, introduced his clients Mark Cronin and Cris Abrego (and Abrego's then producing partner Rick Telles) to one another and pitched the idea to them as a vehicle for them to produce together.

The show was sold to the WB and subsequently to VH1.

In 2006, Coelen joined RDF as the CEO of RDF USA, which had been one of his clients at UTA.

Coelen stated "As an agent you can't produce...I was drawn by the opportunity to be a vested part of this business, to be on the same team as the people that I was representing.”

Coelen was hired by Stephen Lambert, RDF's chief creative officer and David Frank, RDF's CEO, Coelen was given the task of expanding the firm’s North American business and was its first corporate employee in the U.S.; he oversaw and sold more than 30 shows to American networks and cable channels including Wife Swap, Secret Millionaire, Don't Forget the Lyrics, Hitched or Ditched, Addicted to Beauty, Find My Family, How To Look Good Naked, The Two Coreys, Hardcore Pawn, and One Big Happy Family

While at RDF, Coelen expanded the companies activities to include a management company, Pangea Management Group.

In May 2007, ABC announced plans to re-order Wife Swap and put it into syndication.

In June 2007, Pangea joined in a partnership with Bravo to manage the careers of its reality talent, in an effort to boost the careers of talent appearing in the network’s programming.

In announcing the deal, Frances Berwick, GM of Bravo, said Bravo partnered with Pangea because they were getting "requests for these people: advertisers; networks who wanted experts on-air; personal appearances, consumer products -- stuff [the contestants] should be making money on, frankly."

Bravo President Lauren Zalaznick said “While television is at our core and will always be the heart of what we do, Bravo Media extends that content and brand to every platform to suit our passionate consumers’ lifestyles.” Coelen added “Bravo is really smart and forward-thinking" and "it's a way to capitalize on the show's brand." Pangea's clients included chefs such as Richard Blais and Brian Malarkey.

In July 2007, Don't Forget the Lyrics premiered on Fox and became the number one show in its time slot.

In 2008, Coelen was elected to the NATPE board, serving with co-chairs Kevin Beggs and Roma Khanna.

In December 2008, Secret Millionaire premiered on Fox, featuring wealthy men and women who live incognito in everyday neighborhoods, deciding whether to give up to $100,000 of their own money to deserving residents.

Coelen sold a second season to ABC in 2009.

In 2009, Omnicom Media Group and RDF formed a "first-of-its-kind strategic venture" with RDF serving as OMG’s exclusive content-creation partner in all areas except sports and minority programming.

As part of the venture, RDF's acquired a majority shareholding in Full Circle Entertainment, headed by branded entertainment veteran Robert Riesenberg, who reported to Coelen.

Coelen stated "The huge thrust of the deal is about content creation. With all of the things that are happening in the business — the economy, the TiVo effect and declining viewership — the role of the advertiser has never been more important.” Steve Grubbs, chief executive of Omnicom Media Group’s entertainment and sports division, stated ““This alignment with RDF gives us a direct line into a major production and distribution company, which will help us create content that will directly tie our clients’ brands into that content”

In 2009, RDF expanded Coelen's responsibilities, naming him Group Director of North America.

TV Week named Coelen one of its "12 To Watch" in regard to his impact on the media industry in 2009 - on a list alongside Oprah Winfrey, Jason Kilar, Les Moonves, Jay Leno and Barack Obama.

Coelen left RDF in December 2009 amid reports of a clash with UK management.

Coelen is the founder and CEO of Kinetic Content, which launched in 2010, and was acquired by European Broadcast group ProSiebenSat.1 Media later that year.

Peter Chernin's North Road Company acquired Kinetic in July, 2022.

In March 2010, Coelen founded Kinetic Content, personally financing the company and announcing a formal launch in April 2010 at MIPTV in Cannes.

He said he envisioned the company being “creatively led and being very, very robust from a creative perspective.”