News & Announcements
2024
Magnolia Network sets Max premieres for trio of reality competition series
WBD-owned Magnolia Network has revealed the premiere dates for a trio of unscripted competition series bound for Max, all executive produced by Magnolia founders Chip and Joanna Gaines.
Top 45 Reality TV Producers of 2024 – Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman
With some of the biggest hits on TV, including “Shark Tank,” “90 Day Fiancé,” “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance,” the company also produced new hits this year over multiple genres of nonfiction, including ID’s hit “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”
CNN Picks Up Second Season Of Jake Tapper-Hosted ‘United States Of Scandal’
CNN is picking up a second season of United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper, with plans for another series run in 2025.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, & Prince Harry Launching Two Non-Fiction Series At Netflix Featuring Cooking, Gardening & Professional Polo
Meghan Markle, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry are cooking up two new projects with Netflix.
Selena Gomez’s New Cooking Show ‘Selena + Restaurant’ Sets Premiere Date and Takes Her Out of the Kitchen (EXCLUSIVE)
Over the six-episode first season of “Selena + Restaurant,” Gomez and her best friend and “Selena + Chef” co-star, Raquelle Stevens, will head to multiple Los Angeles restaurants.
Nick Viall Teams Up With Patti Stanger for CW Matchmaking Series (EXCLUSIVE)
Nick Viall is teaming up with the ultimate matchmaker, Patti Stanger. The pair will work together in CW’s upcoming unscripted series, “Patti Stanger: The Matchmaker”
CNN Sets Debut Of ‘United States Of Scandal With Jake Tapper’ Limited Series
The series will feature figures who have been in the spotlight in various political scandals, with Tapper interviewing former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, actress Rielle Hunter, former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and former CIA officer Valerie Plame.
2023
IPC Nabs Two Realscreen Awards 2024 Nominees including The Climb and Selena + Chef
MGM+ Orders ‘The Wonderland Murders’ True Crime Docuseries Based On Michael Connelly’s Podcast
The four-episode series is based on Michael Connelly’s Audible podcast of the same name and will explore the infamous Wonderland murder case in 1980s Los Angeles. Connelly is also the author of the Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer series.
Chip and Joanna Gaines’s Magnolia Network Sets Four Family-Friendly Unscripted Series at Max, Including Competition ‘Human vs Hamster’
The unscripted projects, which are set to debut in 2024, are described as “ambitious large-scale competitions” and “out-of-the-box social experiments” that are intended to create a co-viewing experience on Max for parents and children.
‘The Way Down’ EP Nile Cappello Inks Overall Deal With The Intellectual Property Corp. (Exclusive)
The journalist and producer will develop nonfiction content with the Sony-based company.
‘The D’Amelio Show’: Charli, Dixie, Marc & Heidi Open Up About Emotional Season 3
The filter has been peeled away more than ever on The D’Amelio Show. Picking up in season 3, Dixie and Charli’s sisterly bond is tested as they look to build their respective careers. Empty nesters Marc and Heidi are doing their best to keep the family harmony while growing the business.
The D’Amelio Show: Charli Faces ‘Pressure’ in Landon Barker Romance as Dixie Opens Up About Health Scare (Exclusive)
In PEOPLE’s exclusive look at the season 3 trailer, Dixie will also clarify “the real story” about her romance with Josh Richards and Charli continues to adjust to life “in the public eye”
Max’s New Dating Show Wants You To Know It’s Not Like Other Girls
Swiping America is a refreshing new addition to the genre.
HBO Donates $100,000 to 6 LGBTQ+ Organizations Featured in ‘We’re Here’ Season 3
Recipients include PFLAG Fort Worth, MS Capital City Pride, Pride of Southern Utah, TriVersity Pride Center, Equality Florida and Lambda Legal
‘Swiping America’ singles travel around the country to date: ‘I have high standards’
They’re on a cross-country search for love.
Max slates dating docuseries “Swiping America” from “We’re Here” creators
Max has announced a new romantic documentary dating series, Swiping America, which comes from creators and executive producers Stephen Warren and Johnnie Ingram (We’re Here).
Meet the Singles Who Are Looking for The One in Max’s ‘Swiping America’
They’re traveling the country to find their next hot date.
The CW revealed three more unscripted series after presenting its fall schedule including Patti Stanger: Millionaire Matchmaking
The network has ordered The Great American Bakeover (w/t), which marks the first order for former HBO Max reality chief Jen O’Connell’s Velvet Hammer banner, The Force from Jersey Shore creator SallyAnn Salsano, and Patti Stanger: Millionaire Matchmaking.
Selena Gomez Joins Food Network With 2 Upcoming Series
Selena Gomez is joining the Food Network.
The multi-hyphenate star is working on two projects for the cooking channel, it was announced Wednesday. The first will be a “celebration-focused series just in time for the holidays,” which will launch later in 2023.
Peabody Awards: ‘Abbott Elementary,’ ‘Andor,’ ‘Severance’ and ‘We’re Here’ Among Winners
Thematic trends among this year’s winners include projects that focused on environmental issues (Fire of Love, The Territory and The Power of Big Oil), mental health (The Gap: Failure to Treat, Failure to Protect and Life Is Strange: True Colors), reproductive rights (This American Life: The Pink House at the Center of the World and Aftershock) and transgender rights (We’re Here and Contrapoints).
‘We’re Here,’ ‘Mo,’ ‘As We See It’ Among This Year’s 16th Television Academy Honors
HBO Max’s “We’re Here,” Netflix’s “Mo” and Amazon Prime Video’s recently canceled “As We See It” are among the programs set to be recognized at the Television Academy’s 16th Television Academy Honors, the org announced Thursday morning.
Netflix’s ‘Jewish Matchmaking’ Will Be Your New Favorite Dating Show
If you’re streaming the latest season of Indian Matchmaking and worried about how you’ll fill your time when you’ve finished, don’t fret. There’s a brand new dating show to add to your queue: Jewish Matchmaking—because just when you thought the reality dating show pool couldn’t get any better, Netflix is here to prove how wrong you are.
Singles on Netflix’s ‘Jewish Matchmaking’ Ask That Age-Old Question: ‘How Big Is His Mezuzah?’
Matchmaker Aleeza Ben Shalom will bring hopeful singles together for real love in Jewish Matchmaking, which follows the success of the streamer’s Indian Matchmaking
‘Indian Matchmaking’ Returns for Season 3, Complete with Pete Davidson Jokes and Sima Taparia’s Family
Sima Taparia is back to help hopeful singles find love on Indian Matchmaking — and now her own family will be on display too.
Jewish Matchmaking: Get a First Look at Your New Netflix Obsession
Netflix is expanding its matchmaking empire with brand-new series Jewish Matchmaking, premiering May 3. Get your exclusive first look at the series and find out what to expect.
Tyler, the Creator, Coi Leray Discuss Hip-Hop’s Perception in ‘RapCaviar Presents’ Trailer
Six-episode docuseries will premiere on Hulu March 30
‘Indian Matchmaking’ Season 3 Set to Premiere on Netflix in April
Mumbai’s matchmaker Sima Taparia returns to help single millennials around the world find love, employing decades-worth of experience and traditional methods.
“Unscripted and Unprepared” podcast features Sony Pictures Television’s Aaron Saidman
One of the Realscreen Hall of Fame’s 2023 honorees, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) co-president of non-fiction entertainment Aaron Saidman, is the latest guest on the Unscripted & Unprepared podcas
Listen wherever you get your podcasts or read more via Realscreen
Tyler, The Creator Shares Pharrell’s Words of Wisdom in First Look at Hulu’s ‘RapCaviar Presents’ Docuseries
All seven episodes of ‘RapCaviar Presents’ will premiere via Hulu on March 30.
Pharrell Teaches Tyler, The Creator the Other Meaning of House Music in ‘RapCaviar Presents’ Clip
New Hulu docuseries — inspired by the popular Spotify playlist — will premiere March 30
2022
Jason Momoa Takes His Passion for Rock Climbing to New Levels in HBO Max’s ‘The Climb’
The Aquaman star serves as a producer and host of the new competition reality series, set to premiere on Jan. 12
The D’Amelio Show Season 2 Premieres on Hulu
Season 2 premieres Wednesday, September 28, and fans can expect the family to catch up on everything that’s happened since the first season aired. From Charli and Dixie’s relationships, to exploring new career aspirations, and navigating intense public scrutiny—this new chapter is sure to be the most revealing and emotional yet.
We’re Here season 3 features Pulse survivor, drag queen army saving lives from anti-gay law
HBO series co-creator calls this “the most important season to date” as Bob the Drag Queen, Shangela, and Eureka travel the country fighting anti-LGBTQ hatred in EW’s first look.
Indian Matchmaking Season 2 Premieres on Netflix
The first season of Indian Matchmaking was a meme just waiting to happen. Aparna’s long list of dislikes — comedy, beach vacations over three days and football, to name a few — made all of the exhausted daters among us feel seen. For those who reveled in the matchmaking drama, get ready to screenshot clips for your friends once again, as the Emmy-nominated dating show just announced its return date. Indian Matchmaking Season 2 will premiere Wednesday, Aug. 10, bringing back some familiar faces — along with brand new daters.
Selena Gomez wins Critics Choice 2022’s Female Star of the Year for Selena + Chef
Reality Impact Report 2022: Meet the Titans of Unscripted TV
Variety celebrates the talent behind the scenes who have made the biggest impact across all formats of unscripted, featuring Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman of IPC.
Indian Matchmaking Renewed for Season 3
Indian Matchmaking is not only returning for a second season this year, but a third installment has already been ordered for later. Matchmaker Sima Taparia is expected to return in the Emmy-nominated series from Industrial Media’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC), LLC and executive producers Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman, Smriti Mundhra, and J.C. Begley
IPC Acquired by Sony Pictures TV
Sony Pictures Television sealed a deal to acquire Industrial Media, a major nonfiction TV production company whose portfolio includes “90 Day Fiancé,” “So You Think You Can Dance” and “American Idol.”
A&E Expands Hit Series SECRETS OF PLAYBOY with Two Additional Episodes
A&E Network will expand the ten-part documentary series “Secrets of Playboy” with two additional one-hour episodes, hosted by investigative journalist and former Playboy cover model Lisa Guerrero, continuing the conversation around the legacy of Playboy and the complex world Hugh Hefner created.
Realscreen celebrates best in non-fiction entertainment with 2022 winners
Selena+Chef wins LIFESTYLE – STUDIO-BASED FOOD PROGRAM 12th annual awards, celebrating outstanding content from across the global non-fiction and unscripted entertainment industry.
2021
Trailer Drop: We’re Here Season Two
The beloved and critically acclaimed serries WE’RE HERE returns for Season 2 October 11th on HBO Max. Hope is here to slay.
Watch the trailer here
Kids Behind Bars: Life or Parole Returns for Season Two
Our gripping true crime series, Kids Behind Bars returns for Season 2 returns on A&E. Season 2 chronicles the horrific crimes and emotional impact on family and friends as they grapple with the question of whether these convicted offenders could be released back into their communities following a Supreme Court ruling.
Watch the trailer here
‘Secrets Of Playboy’: A+E Announces Documentary About Dark Side Of Playboy
A+E Network is releasing Secrets of Playboy in early 2022, a documentary about the hidden truths behind the Playboy empire viewed through a modern lens produced by Industrial Media’s The Intellectual Property Corporation.
“The fantasy world of Playboy has been shrouded in secrecy for decades and we are proud to lift the veil on these long-hidden stories,” said Elaine Frontain Bryant, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming for A&E in a statement. “Breaking down barriers and exposing the truth, Secrets of Playboy is a masterful example of brave storytelling that takes an unflinching look at the personal effects of Hugh Hefner’s empire, while also exploring his legacy’s larger influence on our society and modern-day views of sexuality.”
Read more via Deadline
Cooking With Paris Review Roundup
Netflix Announces Cooking With Paris From IPC, Starring Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton is cooking up a new project: a new series with Netflix, “Cooking With Paris,” Variety has exclusively learned.
The amateur cooking show will feature the hotel heiress and business mogul learning her way around the kitchen with the help of her famous friends. The series will take a spin on the traditional cooking show, as Hilton is not a trained chef and doesn’t really know how to cook — but she certainly knows how to entertain viewers at home.
“Cooking With Paris” will launch globally on the streaming giant on Aug. 4 with six half-hour episodes.
In the series, Hilton will invite her celebrity friends into her kitchen, as she navigates new ingredients, new recipes and exotic kitchen appliances. Hilton will take viewers from the grocery store to the finished table spread. According to Netflix, Hilton will embrace her “very newly domesticated side,” while she “learns to sauté, sear and zest,” and show off her “culinary expertise (or lack thereof), glam kitchen wardrobe and party-throwing skills with some of her fab celeb friends.”
Read more via Variety — Realscreen — CNN
Indian Matchmaking & Selena+Chef Receive Nomanations from the 1st Annual Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards
A big hearty congratulations to IPC and the teams behind both Indian Matchmaking and Selena + Chef, as both shows were nominated today for the 1st Annual Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards for Best Cable or Streaming Reality Series, Competition Series, or Game Show.
Hulu drops Sneak Peek for The D’Amelio Show
Take a sneak peek at the trailer for our highly anticipated series, The D’Amelio Show, coming soon to Hulu. Get to know the D’Amelios, the First Family of TikTok, who came from relative obscurity and a seemingly normal life, to overnight success and thrust into the Hollywood limelight. Watch as they navigate their newfound fame and learn how to live large in the city of Los Angeles.
Watch the sneak peek via YouTube
Selena+Chef Wins MTV Award
HBOMax’s Selena+Chef has won a 2021 MTV Movie and TV Award for BEST NEW UNSCRIPTED SERIES. The inaugural awards show airs live on MTV tonight (May 17) beginning at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
We’re Here Wins GLAAD Media Award
HBO’s We’re Here has won a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Reality Program. At the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Award Ceremony, the honor was accepted by accepted by Bob The Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and DJ “Shangela” Pierce.
Read more via GLAAD – Deadline – Variety – Hollywood Reporter
GLAMOUR: My Best Pandemic Parenting Secret Is Selena Gomez’s Cooking Show
How Selena + Chef became the streaming era’s unlikeliest toddler whisperer.
Read the article via Glamour
The Daily Beast: Aaron Saidman writes about his eye-opening personal connection to serial killer Richard Ramirez’s case.
The Tale of a Shoe, My Father, and the Night Stalker — March 5, 2018, was a predictably busy Monday at The Intellectual Property Corporation, the production company I co-founded and where I serve as president. I had seven meetings that day, but the one that caught my eye was a 4:30 p.m. sit-down noted in my calendar as “Night Stalker Homicide Detectives + Tiller.” Tiller is director Tiller Russell, with whom my producing partner and I have been working for a decade now, beginning with the documentary feature The Seven Five. That afternoon, Tiller walked into our offices with legendary Los Angeles homicide detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo, who told us the harrowing tale of their pursuit of the serial murderer known as the Night Stalker. I hung on their every word. But when they got to the part of the story about how a shoe print from a slightly obscure brand called Avia became the most significant piece of evidence in the entire case, I was stunned. For me, this revelation seemed almost inconceivable. Almost too coincidental. The world is small, but it cannot possibly be that small. Could it?
Avia was an upstart athletic shoe company in the 1980s. And they had very distinct shoe soles; so distinct, in fact, that a patent attorney had secured design patents for them so they would be protected against other brands that may want to copy their designs. These Avia shoe soles were called “cantilever soles.” This same patent attorney had obtained a design patent on the very sole of the shoe that the detectives were now describing to me as the pivotal clue that linked the Night Stalker’s murders to each other. As it so happens, this patent attorney is my father, Perry Saidman.
Read the article via The Daily Beast
‘We’re Here’ Nominated for 2021 Independent Spirit Award
HBO’s We’re Here has been nominated for a Spirit Award in the category of “Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series.” Its 36th annual awards ceremony is set to air Thursday, April 22 at 10:00 pm ET and 7:00 pm PT — a temporary (and exciting!) break from the show’s usual spot as a live daytime event the day before the Oscars.
Read more via — Film Independent Spirit Awards
‘We’re Here’ Nominated for 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards
We’re Here has been nominated for a 2021 GLAAD Media Award, for Outstanding Reality Program. The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues. The winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony scheduled for April 2021.
Read more via — Deadline — EW — GLAAD
Free Meek Wins 2021 Realscreen Award
Amazon’s FREE MEEK has won 2021 Realscreen Award in the category of “Non-Fiction: Arts & Culture Program.” IPC congratulates the incredible team that made this show possible, as well as all the other phenomenal series and docs that were nominated and recognized this year.
Read more via — Realscreen
LAist: How Netflix’s ‘Night Stalker’ Brought The Fear Of A 1980s LA Crime Spree Back To Life
The killings began to ramp up in July of 1985, and for two months, Los Angeles was terrified as “The Night Stalker” killed, raped, and robbed seemingly random Angelenos by night. The new Netflix documentary series Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer goes in-depth on the rampage, interviewing police, victims, and reporters about the search and ultimate capture of Richard Ramirez.
Director Tiller Russell was writing for TV dramas Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. when his producing partner and friend Tim Walsh came to him with a source. He said that he’d just met a cop that worked the Night Stalker case, Gil Carrillo. Walsh thought there might be a documentary here.
Read more via — LAist
‘Selena + Chef’ EP on Giving Selena Gomez Harder Recipes in Season 2 and Planning for Post-Pandemic
“We want to be relevant to the times, whatever those times are,” IPC’s Aaron Saidman tells TheWrap.
Few shows with the pandemic as part of their premise seem destined to survive post-lockdown, but HBO Max’s “Selena + Chef” shows no signs of slowing down. The socially distanced cooking show returned on Thursday with three new episodes and six more set to roll out in the coming weeks. That’s a total of 20 episodes produced since the series was first announced eight months ago, all filmed using remote technology under strict COVID safety restrictions.
“Making a show where COVID is part of the premise, we definitely felt the need to move fast,” executive producer Aaron Saidman said in an interview with TheWrap. “And to make sure that we could execute this content and get it into people’s homes so they would be able to enjoy the experience of the show while it was still relevant.”
Read more via — TheWrap
Salon: Netflix’s grisly “Night Stalker” docuseries ensures the victims aren’t just a body count number
“The Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer” treats all the victims as equally important, and it’s clear — at least through Russell’s lens — that the detectives viewed them that way, as well. They’re positioned here as mothers and fathers, daughters, and community members, defined by their lives and not how they were killed. It didn’t take a white victim for them to take the case “seriously.” I think that’s honestly likely due to the fact that Carrillo was on the case. He describes in the docuseries how he felt the killings were “close to home” for himself and his neighbors.
Read more via — Salon
Variety: Netflix ‘Night Stalker’ Docuseries Director: ‘I Didn’t Want to Glamorize Him’
More than three decades after he was apprehended in Los Angeles, Richard Ramirez continues to haunt our nightmares. Better known as the Night Stalker, Ramirez cut a deadly swath through the “city of angels,” killing 13 people, while sexually assaulting, burglarizing and attempting to murder many more. His cruelty and malevolence were nearly unprecedented in criminal history.
A gripping new Netflix docuseries “The Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer” chronicles the desperate search to find Ramirez by focusing on the police officers tasked with bringing the killer to justice. The unlikely pair who had to sift through the clues were Gil Carrillo, a young and outgoing detective, and his taciturn mentor, the legendary investigator Frank Salerno.
Tiller Russell, the director of the four-part series, says getting them to open up about cracking the case, as well as convincing the survivors and victims’ families that the show would honor the memories of their loved ones, was the greatest challenge he faced. He spoke to Variety shortly before “The Night Stalker” premiered on Netflix on Jan. 13.
Read more via — Variety
The Chicago Sun Times: Netflix’s ‘Night Stalker’ pays respect to the lives a killer took
Gripping crime docu-series makes sure the victims of the brutal Los Angeles home invader aren’t just numbers in a body county.
When handled with great storytelling instincts and respect for the gravity of the material, these docs become addictive albeit sometimes lurid buzz-worthy binge viewing, e.g., “Making a Murderer,” “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” “American Murder: the Family Next Door.” Joining the ranks of the very best true crime shows in recent memory is the four-part Netflix series “The Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer,” premiering Jan. 13 and almost certain to keep you in its grips from the opening sequences to the final images. We are very early in the 2021 viewing season, but it’s difficult to imagine any project in this genre having a more profound impact. This is great television.
Read more via — The Chicago Sun Times