{"id":1773,"date":"2018-10-01T01:20:35","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T01:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uoesterl.expressions.syr.edu\/?p=1773"},"modified":"2018-10-02T00:37:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T00:37:13","slug":"original-productions-a-new-type-of-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uoesterl.expressions.syr.edu\/?p=1773","title":{"rendered":"Original Productions: A New Type of Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Original Productions is one of the highest rated unscripted television production companies in the country, and is most popularly known for its highly successful shows on Discovery, History, Spike TV, and TruTV such as \u201cDeadliest Catch\u201d, \u201cIce Road Truckers\u201d, and \u201c1000 Ways to Die\u201d to name a few. The company was founded by successful producer, Thom Beers, in 1999 and resides in Burbank, California.
\nOriginal Productions content mainly shows everyday heroes doing everyday jobs and its target audience is mostly dominated by a male demographic due to the mostly all-male character driven shows. Thom Beers stated that his focus was always for the shows to have \u201ctop-notch storytelling with engaging personalities in high-risk circumstances\u201d. The company has done just that and with over 1,400 hours worth of original content, they have received multiple Emmy Awards. The company not only produces shows for cables broadcasts but also for streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. Beers stated that he also wants the company to start producing scripted reality shows that are based on real events.<\/p>\n

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Original Productions founder Thom Beers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the company makes about 5 million dollars a year<\/a> and has around 50 employees, most of the revenue for Original Productions comes from national advertising agencies, while their different series are running on different major cable networks such as NBC and National Geographic amongst many others. Original Productions President and Executive Producer, Philip Segal, believes that due to the male-dominated audience there are major packing opportunities for brands, to promote their products during the different shows air-times. In 2011 Thom Beers added another platform to the company as they partnered up with the Zenescope team to create a graphic novel based off of Spike TV\u2019s popular show 1,000 Ways To Die<\/a>.
\nWhile the company has many different revenues of income it can pricey to make some of these documentary type shows. For example \u201cDeadliest Catch\u201d, (easily the highest rated show from the company) costs almost one million dollars to produce each episode, while others shows can cost anywhere between 300,00 and 500,000 per episode<\/a>. It can even cost as low as under 100,000 depending on the show. While the cost can be up and down depending on the series producing this kinda of entertainment is cheaper than producing scripted shows like \u201cGame Of Thrones\u201d or \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d which can cost millions of dollars to produce.<\/p>\n

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\nFlint (2014) states that in 2009 Beers sold 75% of the company<\/a> to production and distribution company FremantleMedia for an estimated value of about 50 million dollars. FremantleMedia is based heavily in the UK but has headquarters located all around the globe. Original Productions became apart of their North American distribution chain. FremantleMedia has produced some of televisions’ most popular game and talent shows such as American Idol, Family Feud, and The Price Is Right, just to name a few. Thom Beers became the CEO for FremantleMedia North American<\/a> in 2012 overseeing 175 of Fremantle’s\u2019 employees, until his departure in 2015.<\/p>\n

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Original Productions President Jeff Hasler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Original Productions was one of the first of their kind. A lot of the shows they have to compete with are shows that are owned by their parent company, FremantleMedia. However, due to shows such as \u201cIce Road Truckers,\u201d the company is partly responsible for \u201cpaving the way\u201d for shows other highly competitive shows such as \u201cPawn Stars\u201d, and \u201cAmerican Pickers\u201d. According to Andreeva (2018), in 2018 Original Productions named Jeff Hasler<\/a> their new President, to oversee all the development and production of the various shows. Jeff spent 5 years prior to this working at the Discovery Channel as the SVP overseeing all of the Development and Production on shows such as \u201cMan vs. Wild\u201d, \u201cDirty Jobs\u201d, and even on Shark Week, and at A&E working on reality shows such as \u201cGene Simmons Family Jewels\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\nWhile Thom Beers is proud of what Original Productions has become he also stresses the difficulties that making this kind of content can have on a cast and crew. For example, they are very aware of the dangers and problems that come with some of these reality shows. Cast and crew members have been extremely injured or even died while filming different shows. One case was during the filming of \u201cDeadliest Catch\u201d, when one of the main cast members, Captain Philips, died due to a serious stroke. It can take a major toll on everyone involved when filming these shows.<\/p>\n