Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk And will.i.am Join Planet Of The Apps As Mentors

NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Entertainment and tech superstars Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk and will.i.am have joined Planet of the Apps, a new unscripted series co-produced by Propagate and Apple. The three will serve as mentors and advisors to the app developers selected for the series. Paltrow and will.i.am will also executive produce the project. The announcement was made by executive producers Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens of Propagate.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Gwyneth, Gary and will.i.am on Planet of the Apps," said Silverman and Owens.  "Starting a new business is not easy.  Our team of advisors are entrepreneurs who have each launched and built successful brands and can tap into their personal experience to offer advice to the app developers selected for the series."

"Developing and launching a business based on your own original idea can be exhilarating, but intimidating," said Paltrow.  "This is a great opportunity to be part of a series that lets us use our experiences to help app developers break through and create viable businesses that will impact peoples' lives."

"Being an entrepreneur and supporting entrepreneurs is basically all I've ever known.  The opportunity to team up with Apple and Propagate for Planet of the Apps to produce, what I think is potentially the most innovative show for entrepreneurs in the business sphere, excites me to no end.  I'm looking forward to teaming up with the other experts and trying to help some of today's great app entrepreneurs," said Vaynerchuk.

"As tech drives modern pop culture now more than ever, we are giving a platform for the next generation of culture makers to shine," said will.i.am.  "We are searching for entrepreneurs with the vision to shape the future, solve real problems and inspire change within our daily lives."

A casting call is currently underway for Planet of the Apps, which delves into the world of apps and the developers who create them.  Those interested in applying can visit the series website, https://planetoftheapps.com.  Online applications are being accepted through Friday, August 26.

Planet of the Apps has teamed up with Product Hunt on a four-city tour in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Austin.  The events are an opportunity to meet other tech entrepreneurs and hear from the team behind the series.  The road tour kicked off in San Francisco and Los Angeles last week, in New York on August 1 and will make a stop in Austin on August 4.  More details, including locations and registration, can be found on the Planet of the Apps website.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Oscar®-winning actress, is a tech-entrepreneur, mother and bestselling cookbook-author. Paltrow, whose 1998 turn in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE garnered her Best Actress honors at the Golden Globes®, Screen Actors Guild Awards®, and Academy Awards®, is also a decorated author, entrepreneur, and singer. In 2011, she won an Emmy® for Guest Actress in a Comedy series for playing substitute teacher Holly Holiday on Glee, and her song, "Coming Home," from the soundtrack for COUNTRY STRONG, was nominated for an Oscar® (the album went gold). In addition, Paltrow has authored three New York Times Best Selling cookbooks, My Father's Daughter (2011),  It's All Good (2013), and It's All Easy (2016) — the latter two hit #1.  She also co-wrote Spain, A Culinary Road Trip with acclaimed chef Mario Batali after their PBS documentary, "Spain...on the Road Again," which was about Spanish food and culture, aired. In 2008, Paltrow launched Goop, a brand devoted to making every choice count, where food, shopping, and mindfulness collide: In particular, goop has gained acclaim for its focus on health, wellness, and clean eating, as well as its city guides, an insider's perspective on the very best places to eat, shop, and stay in the world's most compelling destinations. Other notable film credits include PROOF (for which she received a Golden Globe® nomination), Wes Anderson's THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, Anthony Mighella's THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, David Fincher's SEVEN, the Farrelly brothers' SHALLOW HAL, Alfonso Cuarón's GREAT EXPECTATIONS, Douglas McGrath's EMMA, and SLIDING DOORS. Recently, Paltrow has appeared in Marvel's IRON MAN franchise.

Gary Vaynerchuk is CEO and co-founder of VaynerMedia, one of the world's hottest digital agencies.  He is a prolific angel investor and venture capitalist, investing in companies like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Uber, and Birchbox before co-founding VaynerRSE, a $25 million investment fund.  He is the host of The #AskGaryVee Show, where he takes questions about social media, entrepreneurship, startups and family businesses and gives answers based upon a lifetime of building successful multi-million dollar companies.  He has been named to both Fortune and Crain's New York Business's 40 Under 40 lists.

will.i.am is a multi-faceted entertainer and creative innovator, a seven-time Grammy Award® winner and founder of I AM.  He is the frontman and founder of The Black Eyed Peas, and has worked with some of the industry's biggest names. In addition to his music career, will.i.am is active in front of and behind the camera.  His television credits include, "i.am.mars: Reach for the Stars" for Science Channel and the primetime special, "i.am FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll." He also served as a Coach on the hit series "The Voice" in the UK on BBC One.  A founding shareholder in Beats Electronics, he is an active philanthropist with a commitment to inspiring kids to stay in school and attend college through his i.am.angel Foundation.

Planet of the Apps is executive produced by Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, will.i.am and Gwyneth Paltrow.  Craig Armstrong, Rick Ringbakk and Charles Wachter will serve as showrunners and executive producers.

About Propagate 
Since launching just over a year ago, Propagate has grown into a formidable business with several series in production and a number of high-profile projects in development with deals across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms.  Beyond developing, producing and distributing scripted and unscripted content, Propagate's plans call for the creation and global distribution of formats.  The company aims to roll out ambitious new content distribution models while building a global production platform that focuses on new markets.

Propagate's unscripted development slate includes "Lore," based on the hit podcast and co-produced with Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Entertainment; "Unprotected" for Oxygen; "Evil Genius" for HISTORY; "My So-Called Simple Life" (working title) for FYI; a docu-series for Vivica A. Fox; and "Animal ER" for National Geographic Wild.

SOURCE Propagate