Asylum Entertainment Group Gets New Name, Management Structure Under Steve Michaels and Jen O’Connell (EXCLUSIVE)

Asylum Entertainment Group will kick off 2025 with a new name and leadership structure. Variety has learned that the company, part of Endeavor’s non-scripted content group, is rebranding as Pantheon Media Group.

Concurrent with the news, CEO Steve Michaels has moved into a role as chairman of Pantheon, while naming Jen O’Connell as the company’s new CEO. O’Connell is presently co-founder and co-CEO of Velvet Hammer Media, and will continue in that role as co-CEO along with Rebecca Quinn.

O’Connell is able to do both jobs and expand her oversight as Velvet Hammer is a minority-owned Endeavor company.

“Jen is a longtime friend and a respected executive and entrepreneur,” Michaels said in a statement. “Her pedigree and expertise are exactly what the company needs for this exciting next chapter of growth. I’m confident that under her leadership, our more than 20 unscripted labels will continue to thrive and produce innovative content.”

This has been a transformative year for Asylum/Pantheon, which has been in growth mode since Endeavor invested in the company last year. In 2024, Asylum/Pantheon acquired a stake in live media producers Done+Dusted; partnered with Tyler Perry Studios in a joint venture to create and produce unscripted content; invested a minority stake in Ladywell Films, an independent production house founded by “Tinder Swindler” filmmakers Bernadette Higgins and Felicity Morris; and took a stake in  a stake in London-based Dare Entertainment.

Pantheon Media Group includes production shingles covering live, premium doc, factual, crime, sports, game, entertainment and other categories. Besides the ones mentioned above, they also include Large Eyes Entertainment, Mohawk Puppy, documentary producers Film 45, true crime producers Texas Crew Productions, limited series producer Breaklight Pictures, U.K.-based Soho Studios and Moon&Back Media; and first-look deals with  Tom Morello’s Comandante Productions and the  New York Post. Pantheon’s companies are based across the globe in L.A., New York, London, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Austin.

In her new role, O’Connell will oversee business and creative, while president Jodi Flynn and chief creative officer Ben Bitonti continue to head up creative inside the company.

O’Connell and Quinn founded Velvet Hammer Media in 2023, and have produced projects including “Best Bite Wins” and “Empty Nest Refresh.” Prior to that, O’Connell was executive VP of nonfiction and live-action family originals for HBO Max. She joined HBO Max in 2019, after serving as head of alternative programming for Lionsgate TV. She has also held executive posts at NBCUniversal, Core Media Group and Shed Media U.S.

“It has been wonderful building Velvet Hammer Media under the Endeavor banner with [EVP of content strategy & development] Rebecca Sanhueza and, through that relationship, working closely with Steve and his incredibly hard-working and talented team. Steve has curated a diverse powerhouse of global storytellers delivering quality unscripted content under his impressive umbrella and I am excited to work with this eclectic group of companies. I know that working with the Pantheon Media Group banner, Velvet Hammer is also positioned for further creative success in years to come.”

Asylum Entertainment was launched by Michaels in 2003 as a production company, selling to Legendary Entertainment in 2013. Michaels bought the company back five years later, and then Endeavor took its stake in 2023. As it has turned into a holding company for a wide range of labels, Asylum Entertainment Group was still confused with the old Asylum Entertainment — hence the name change to Pantheon.