Falcon Star: John Solberg ’82
John Solberg ’82 is Executive Vice President, Publicity for FX and FX Productions, with oversight of consumer and trade publicity, photo publicity, talent relations, events, industry awards campaigns, and trade advertising. He reports to FX Chairman John Landgraf.
John has been responsible for messaging for FX and each of its series, from its first original scripted show, The Shield, in 2002 to the latest global hits, The Bear, Shōgun, and Alien: Earth.
In his 28 years at FX, John developed and implemented campaigns for FX’s award-winning programming that is among the most acclaimed in the industry. This era is marked by FX’s evolution from an upstart cable channel championed by Fox Entertainment to, with its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2019, a prestige brand within the Disney Entertainment Television portfolio.
John cultivated the respect of journalists and critics by providing timely and relevant information, innovative assets, and unprecedented access to executives and talent, while encouraging their editorial independence and respecting their influence.
John led the publicity team responsible for two of FX’s most important measures of success—awards and critical acclaim. During his tenure, FX has received 637 Emmy Award nominations, winning 134, and received 105 Golden Globe nominations, winning 28. At the 2024 Emmy Awards, FX won 36 Emmys, the most in its history and double the total of both HBO and Netflix, paced by the drama series Shōgun, which won 18 Emmys —the most of any show in a single year in TV history. That year, The Bear also won 11 Emmys and scored 23 nominations, which is tied for the most nominations ever for a comedy series.
FX series that have been named TV Program of the Year by the American Film Institute (AFI) include The Americans, Atlanta, The Bear, Fargo, Louie, Nip/Tuck, Pose, Reservation Dogs, and The Shield. FX has also won 20 Peabody Awards, with multiple wins for The Americans, Atlanta, Fargo, and Reservation Dogs.
Other notable and award-winning series John has led campaigns for include American Crime Story, American Horror Story, Archer, Damages, Justified, Rescue Me, Sons of Anarchy, Welcome to Wrexham, What We Do in the Shadows, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which just completed its 17th season and is the longest-running live-action comedy series in TV history.
Before joining FX in 1997, John held stints in sports media relations with the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Lakers, Forum Boxing, and Don King Productions, where he was Head of Media Relations, handling publicity for Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, and many other world champion fighters. He first entered the field as a student assistant in the Sports Information Office at the University of Oklahoma.
John is a member of the Television Academy and the Television Publicity Executives Committee.
