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FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's largest TV, radio, and production company. Its world headquarters are located in London.

The company acquired various British and Australian production companies including Grundy Television, Crackerjack Productions (now merged to become FremantleMedia Australia), Thames Television and Talkback (the last two later merged as Talkback Thames). Early on it merged with Germany's largest television production company, UFA.

Production and rights holdings[link]

The company holds the rights to the Goodson/Todman game show library which includes such game shows as What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, Password, Now You See It, Match Game, I've Got a Secret and Family Feud, as well as non-Goodson shows such as Press Your Luck, Let's Make a Deal, and the Reg Grundy library, which includes Time Machine, Sale of the Century, Scrabble, Scattergories, Small Talk and Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak. Fremantle also produced Temptation and an interactive gameshow Quizmania for ITV Play.

In addition, they also own (along with Columbia Pictures) the rights to most of the post 1948 Bob Hope film catalog that includes The Seven Little Foys, The Lemon Drop Kid, and Son of Paleface. They were also the distributors of the television series Baywatch, and hold the rights to the Grundy Television Library such series like Wheel Of Fortune (not the U.S. version or any version produced since Columbia's acquisition of Merv Griffin Enterprises, since Sony now holds the rights to the show domestically and worldwide) and Neighbours, including game shows from its U.S. counterpart, Reg Grundy Productions.

In-house productions include Pop Idol and its related spin-offs (including American Idol), and three carryover productions from Mark Goodson Productions: the current versions of The Price Is Right and Family Feud, and the 2002 revival of Beat the Clock (for Pax TV). Currently, they hold rights (under license from Fuji Television) to the game Brain Wall, more commonly known as Hole in the Wall in over 20 countries.

FremantleMedia has also licensed rights to international formats including The Apprentice (with creator Mark Burnett for BBC One), The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency (on Oxygen in the United States), the Simon Cowell-produced series The X Factor (in the UK), and America's Got Talent for NBC, the long running Australian serials Neighbours and Prisoner, Distraction (on Comedy Central), and Gameshow Marathon (on CBS). In other countries they own the franchise rights to Betty La Fea in Germany (Verliebt In Berlin), Spain (Yo Soy Bea), the Netherlands (Lotte), Sara in Belgium and Maria I Asximi in Greece.

FremantleMedia's library also includes the 2001 CBS telefilm The Christmas Shoes (inspired by the NewSong #1 hit), and its 2005 sequel, The Christmas Blessing. (The song is the property of Bertelsmann AG, which is the majority owner in RTL group.)

The company also owns the back catalog of the American TV production company Reeves Entertainment, which was acquired by Thames in 1990. Additionally, FremantleMedia bought the rights to all former programming of the now defunct UK broadcasting strand Thames Television from Pearson International in 2002, meaning they also hold rights to a variety of shows from the Thames archives including popular children's shows from the 1970s and 1980s such as the long running The Sooty Show and Rainbow.

FremantleMedia currently leases the rights to Match Game, all versions of Family Feud except for the Louie Anderson run, and the various incarnations of Password to GSN. FremantleMedia previously leased the entire Goodson-Todman library (with The Price is Right and the 1994 season of Feud on separate contracts) and Press Your Luck to GSN until March 31, 2009.

FremantleMedia bought a controlling share of Canadian video game development company Ludia in October 2010.^[1]

Company structure[link]

FremantleMedia is divided into two major divisions: Creative Networks, which comprises and co-ordinates local production operations, and FremantleMedia Enterprises, which handles distribution and licensing.

Creative Networks comprises three departments: Worldwide Entertainment, Worldwide Drama and FMX. This network provides local production teams access to ideas, expertise and trends from around the world.

Worldwide Entertainment supports existing shows including Idols, The X Factor, and The Price Is Right and Family Feud, and new additions such as Thank God You're Here, America's Got Talent, Hole in the Wall and PokerFace.

Worldwide Drama supports serial drama production in 12 territories, including long-running dramas The Bill (ITV1, UK), Neighbours (Network Ten, Australia), Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times - RTL Television, Germany), Salatut elämät (Secret Lives - MTV3, Finland), Un Posto al Sole (A Place in the Sun - Rai Uno, Italy) and Barátok Közt (Between Friends - RTL Klub, Hungary).

Creative Networks' latest addition is FMX, a new division intended to reach new audiences by creating non-linear new media experiences. Its productions include Freak, PrintFriends, UrFantastic and Project V.

FremantleMedia Enterprises is the commercial arm of the company responsible for exploiting and developing FremantleMedia's properties off-screen in areas such as merchandising, the Internet, interactive television and wireless. It also focuses on more traditional ancillary rights businesses such as licensing, home entertainment and music publishing. It is the parent arm of the syndicated online short-form comedy video channel, Atomic Wedgie.

FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) is FremantleMedia’s U.S. production & distribution division. Based in Burbank, California, FMNA produces programmes for broadcast and cable networks, syndication, and digital (online & mobile) platforms.

In addition, FremantleMedia owns several other smaller production companies; among these are Thom Beers' Original Productions (responsible for creation and production of numerous reality shows such as Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, and Ice Road Truckers) and Amygdala Music, Leslie Beers' production and composition firm that writes themes, incidental, and featured music for Original Productions shows.

List of FremantleMedia Productions[link]

• America's Got Talent
• China's Got Talent
• Indonesia's Got Talent
• Pilipinas Got Talent
• Czechia & Slovakia Got Talent (2010)
• Czech&Slovak Idol
• American Idol (2002–present) 19 Entertainment Fox
• American Juniors (2003) 19 Entertainment Fox
• Australian Idol
• Indonesian Idol
• Birds of a Feather
• Goodnight Sweetheart
• Baywatch
• Truckers
• Hole in the Wall
• (fr) Questions pour un champion
• The Price is Right
• Let's Make a Deal
• Family Feud
• Super Family Indonesia
• MySpace Road Tour
• Learn With Sooty
• The Sooty Show
• The BFG
• Rainbow
• A Tale Of Two Toads
• The Wind In The Willows
• A Nero Wolfe Mystery (co-producer with the A&E network for airings outside North America)
• Oh! Mr Toad!
• KylieX2008
• Neighbours
• Button Moon
• Victor and Hugo
• T-Bag
• Mr. Bean
• Count Duckula
• DangerMouse
• Tree Fu Tom
• The Bill
• "The Wedding Band"
• Prisoner (Prisoner Cell Block H)
• Weakest Link (Greece) (mega TV)
• Sons and Daughters
• Creepy Crawlies
• Osbournes: Reloaded
• Salatut Elämät
• Secret Girlfriend
• The X Factor
• The Biggest Loser
• House of Jazmin
• Monsuno
• My Babysitter's a Vampire
• The Aquabats! Super Show!
• India's Got Talent
• Indian Idol

References[link]

External links[link]

• FremantleMedia's website
• FremantleMedia Australia's website
• Fremantle International Distribution
• Project V - FMX
• The MySpace Road Tour - FremantleMedia
• Atomic Wedgie - Online Short-Form Comedy Videos

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Mark Burnett
Burnett in July 2009
Born	17 July 1960 London, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Television producer & Executive producer
Spouse	Dianne J. Burnett (nee Valentine) divorced 2003 Roma Downey (m. 2007) «start: (2007)»"Marriage: Roma Downey to Mark Burnett" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Mark_Burnett)
Children	James and Cameron Burnett; Reilly Anspaugh

Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a British television producer, based in Los Angeles. He is best known as the producer of Survivor and the creator of the Apprentice. Burnett is currently the executive producer of five network television series with seven hours of network programming. His current series are Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice, The Voice, Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Shark Tank, and The People's Choice Awards. Works with which Burnett is associated have won multiple awards and recognition. Burnett himself has also won four Emmy Awards and four People's Choice Awards.

Three new upcoming series for Burnett are Robogeddon on Discovery with film director, James Cameron^[1], Stars Earn Stripes, a collaboration with Dick Wolf for NBC that features military and law enforcement personnel teamed with celebrities ^[2], and an Alaska themed docu-series for Discovery. ^[1]

During his career, Burnett has worked closely with many influential producers and stars, including Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, Sarah Palin, and Jeff Foxworthy, among others. ^[3]

Early life[link]

Mark Burnett was born on 17 July 1960 in the east end of London, England, the only child of two Ford Motors factory workers.^[4] He was raised in Dagenham, Essex. At the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the British Army, and became a Section Commander in the Parachute Regiment. From 1978 to 1982 he served with the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (3 PARA) and saw action during the Falklands War.^[4]

Early career[link]

In October 1982, Burnett decided to leave Britain for the United States where he met up with a friend, Nick Hill, who had also immigrated from Britain a few years earlier and was working as a nanny and chauffeur^{[citation needed]}. Hill knew of an open position for a live-in nanny position with the Jaeger family in Beverly Hills, the interview for which was that night. Though he had no experience in that field, Burnett took the opportunity, and because of his military background, the Jaegers, realizing the advantage of having a nanny and security at the same time, hired him. After a year of working for the Jaegers, he moved on to another family in Malibu, taking care of two boys for $250 a week^{[citation needed]}. He was eventually given a position in the insurance office owned by Burt, the father of the two boys.

Two years later, he decided to rent a portion of a fence at Venice Beach and sell T-shirts for $18 each during weekends. Realizing he made more money selling t-shirts, Burnett left his insurance job^{[citation needed]}.

In 1991, Burnett, along with four others, joined a French adventure competition called the Raid Gauloises. After competing, Burnett saw a business opportunity in holding similar competitions. He purchased the format rights and brought a similar competition, Eco Challenge, to America. Eco Challenge launched Burnett's career as a television producer.^[4]

Productions[link]

Mark Burnett is best known for producing the hit reality show, Survivor, which premiered in the summer of 2000 and was the most watched summer series since Sonny and Cher.^[5] Survivor was also named the Number 1 reality series of all time by Entertainment Weekly in 2009.^[6]

Burnett has produced several other television franchises in addition to Survivor. He is the creator of The Apprentice and serves as the executive producer of The Voice, the reality singing competition series for NBC. Carson Daly hosts the show, while Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green and Blake Shelton serve as coaches.^[7] Other series produced by Burnett include; Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Shark Tank, Oprah's All-Stars, Martha Stewart, Sarah Palin's Alaska, The Contender, On the Lot (a collaboration with Steven Spielberg), The Restaurant, Rock Star, Combat Missions, My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad, Bully Beatdown, Starmaker, Expedition Africa, Toughest Cowboy, Wedding Day, How'd You Get So Rich?, and Expedition Impossible. Burnett has completed the milestone of having a renewed series on each of the four major broadcast networks.

Since 2007, Burnett has served as the executive producer for the MTV Movie Awards and has also executive produced the 2010, 2011, and 2012 People's Choice Awards. In September 2011, Burnett produced the Emmy Awards for Fox^{[citation needed]}.

New in 2012, Burnett is joining forces with film director, James Cameron, to produce a new series for Discovery Channel called Robogeddon. ^[1]. Burnett is also working with Law & Order producer, Dick Wolf, for a new NBC reality series that partners military veterans, active-duty servicemen, and law enforcement personnel with celebrities to train and then compete alongside in missions adapted from real exercises. ^[2]

Another upcoming project for Burnett is a documentary series about the state of Alaska. This untitled Alaska project will air on Discovery. ^[1]

In addition to his ongoing productions, Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey, are producing The Bible, a 10 hour History Channel drama based upon stories of the Bible ^[8]

Personal life[link]

In January 2004, Mark began dating actress Roma Downey, and in November 2006, while the two were vacationing with their children in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, he proposed to her.^[9] They wed on 28 April 2007 in their Malibu home. The ceremony was officiated by Downey's former costar, Della Reese.^[10] They currently live in Malibu, California with their three children.

Mark's first marriage was to Dianne Burnett (née Valentine) and produced two sons, James and Cameron.^[11] During their marriage the two formed DJB as the rights holding company to Survivor. The couple divorced in December 2003.^[11]

Awards and nominations[link]

Personal recognition[link]

Time called Burnett one of the Most Influential People in the World Today.^[12] Burnett was also named “Philanthropist of the Year” by the Reality Cares Foundation. Furthermore, Burnett has won both Brandweeks’s Marketer of the Year Award, the prestigious Rose d’Or Frapa Format Award, the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award and the Norman Lear Award from the Producers Guild of America. He also served two years on the Board of Directors for the British Film and Television Academy. ^[13]

In November 2007, Burnett was elected into the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame and in 2008, it was announced that he would be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On 8 July 2009 Burnett received a star at 6664 Hollywood Blvd.^[14]

In June 2011, Burnett was elected into the Producer's Guild of America Council Board of Delegates and currently serves on the Producers Council. He is also ambassador for Operation Smile.

• 2004: Reality Cares Foundation 'Philanthropist of the Year'^[15]
• 2004: Time Magazine: 'Time 100: 100 Most Influential People in the World Today'
• 2009: Producers Guild of America 'Norman Lear Award'^[16]
• 2009: Hollywood Walk of Fame Star: 'Excellence in Television'^[17]
• 2010: Producers Guild of America 'Lifetime Achievement Award in Television'

Project recognition[link]

Since 2001, projects with which Burnett is associated have been nominated for 69 shared Emmy Awards and have won 4. They have also won 4 shared People's Choice Awards, a Banff Rocky, and the prestigious Rose D'Or Frapa Format Award.

Primetime Emmy Awards^[18] 

• 2001, won 'Outstanding Non-Fiction Programming', Special Class, for Survivor: The Australian Outback;
• 2001, won 'Outstanding Sound Mixing for Non-Fiction Programming, for Survivor: The Australian Outback
• 2002, 4 nominations, Survivor: Africa and Survivor: Marquesas (judged as one show)
• 2003, 4 nominations, Survivor: Thailand and Survivor: Amazon (judged as one show)
• 2004, 4 nominations, The Apprentice
• 2005, nomination for 'Outstanding Reality Competition Show' for Survivor
• 2005, 5 nominations, The Apprentice
• 2006, nomination for 'Outstanding Reality Competition Show' for Survivor

Young Artist Award^[19] 

• 2008, won 'Best Family Television Reality Show, Game Show or Documentary for Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Teen Choice Awards^[20][21] 

• 2004, nomination 'Breakout TV Show' for The Apprentice
• 2008, nominated 'Choice TV Game Show' for Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Peoples Choice Awards^[22] 

• 2001, won 'Favorite Reality Based Television Program' for Survivor
• 2002, won 'Favorite Realty Based Television Program' for Survivor: The Australian Outback
• 2003, won 'Favorite Reality Based Television Program' for Survivor: Thailand
• 2004, won 'Favorite Reality Based Television Program' for Survivor
• 2008, nomination 'Favorite Game Show' for Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Kids Choice Awards^[23] 

• 2008, nomination 'Favorite Reality Show' for Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?

Daytime Emmy Awards^[24] 

• 2006, nomination 'Outstanding Service Show' for Martha
• 2007, nomination 'Outstanding Lifestyle Program' for Martha
• 2011, won 'Outstanding Lifestyle Program' for Martha

Family Television Awards^[25] 

(given by the Family Friendly Programming Forum):

• 2001, won 'Reality/Alternative Programming' for Survivor: The Australian Outback

Producer's Guild of America

• 2004, won 'Television Producer of the Year in Reality/Game/Informational Series' for Survivor

TV Critic's Association Awards

• 2004, won 'Program of the Year' for The Apprentice

TV Week's Annual Critics Poll

• 2003, won 'Number 1 Reality Show' for Survivor
• 2003, won 'Number 7 Favorite Show' for Survivor

Diversity Awards

• 2001, won 'Most Diverse Television Ensemble Cast' for Survivor: The Australian Outback

GLAAD Award

• 2001, won 'Recognition Award' for Survivor

Reggie Awards

• 2001, won 'Super Reggie' for 'Multi-Channel Integrated Promotion Involving Consumer and Trade Special' for Survivor

Publicists Guild of America

• 2001, won 'Maxwell Weinberg Publicists Showmanship Award for Television' for Survivor

Sports Emmy Awards

• 2000, won 'Best Program Achievement' for Eco-Challenge: Morocco

Cheeky Bastard Award

• 2012, won 'Cheekiest of Cheeky Bastards Alive' from Ricky Gervais

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mark Burnett

• Mark Burnett at the Internet Movie Database
• SWINDLE Magazine Interview with Mark Burnett

v t e The Voice National franchises Netherlands (original) Argentina Australia Belgium (Flanders & Waloon) Brazil Bulgaria Canada Chile China Denmark Finland France Germany Greece India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Lithuania Mexico Norway Philippines Poland Portugal Romania South Korea Spain Switzerland Sweden Thailand Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Vietnam Regional franchises Albania & Kosovo Czech Republic & Slovakia Related articles John de Mol

Vincent John "Vin" Di Bona^[1] (born 1944) is a television producer for many American television shows such as America's Funniest People, MacGyver and Entertainment Tonight as well as America's Funniest Home Videos. He runs an eponymous production company called Vin Di Bona Productions. In 2010 Di Bona launched a second shingle, FishBowl Worldwide Media, an independent production company developing properties for film, television, digital platforms and brands.

Vin Di Bona

Background[link]

A native of Cranston, Rhode Island^[2], Di Bona began his career in the entertainment industry as a singer, under the stage name Johnny Lindy (the last name was taken from the Cranston area restaurant owned by his parents that Di Bona worked at as a pre-teen); releasing two records by the age of 16, which became hits regionally. However Di Bona turned his aspirations to making film and television in 1962, following the major worldwide success of The Beatles, quoted in a 1990 interview as saying "Guys who sang romantic ballads were up a creek without a paddle. So I adapted."^[2]

Career Highlights[link]

He received an education at Emerson College in Boston, where he served as manager of WECB, the campus radio station.^[3] Di Bona met his first wife Gina, who serves as a production consultant on many of his series including America's Funniest Home Videos and with whom they have a daughter, Cara, while attending Emerson College.^[2] After graduating from Emerson in 1966 and earning up a master's degree of fine arts in film at UCLA, he worked for nine years at Boston's then-NBC affiliate WBZ-TV (channel 4; now a CBS-owned station). After he left WBZ-TV, Vin, his wife and daughter moved to Los Angeles, Di Bona did not find a job for about eight months, until he became employed at CBS directing and producing documentaries for the network, which earned him four Emmys and a Peabody Award.^[2]

Di Bona is considered one of the pioneers of reality TV, thanks to Battle of the Network Stars, which Di Bona produced in 1976.^[3] By the 1980s, Di Bona became a producer for the syndicated newsmagazine Entertainment Tonight and later served as a producer for one season on the ABC series MacGyver; he also was a director for the American Music Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards and produced taped segments for the 36th Annual Emmy Awards, among others.^[2]

Di Bona's first two television series creations were spawned from two Japanese programs, and at the insistence of his then-wife Gina: the ABC series Animal Crack-Ups, was based on a popular Japanese game show called Waku Waku; Gina watched a story featured on CBS News about the show, which aired on the Tokyo Broadcasting System, the story featured a frilled lizard, which made Gina laugh and at her insistence, Vin looked into developing a series based on Waku Waku. America's Funniest Home Videos was inspired by another Tokyo Broadcasting System series, the variety show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan, after Vin and Gina attended a television festival in France and Gina walked past a booth showing Japanese home video clips, Gina found the clips in the program to be hilarious, asking her husband to look into developing a series based on the viewer-submitted home video segment.^[2]

The success of America's Funniest Home Videos,currently in its 22nd year and the longest-running primetime entertainment show on ABC, eventually led to two spinoffs, America's Funniest People and the short-lived World's Funniest Videos; along with similar home video shows Show Me The Funny for Fox Family Channel (now ABC Family) and the syndicated series That's Funny. Di Bona also produced several made-for-TV movies and a Showtime series Sherman Oaks. Vin Di Bona also served as chair for The Caucus for Television Producers, Writers and Directors. Vin Di Bona received the 2,346th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, August 23, 2007. In 2009, objects from "America's Funniest Videos" were accepted into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Museum put the camcorder used to shoot the first winning video in 1989 on display. In 2006 Di Bona married Erica Gerard.

Controversy[link]

In 1992, Arleen Sorkin was fired from the television show, America's Funniest People by Di Bona. In response, Sorkin filed a lawsuit against Di Bona, claiming that she was dismissed from the show due to her race, after ABC Chairman Dan Burke had suggested to Di Bona that Sorkin be replaced by an African-American or a person of another ethnic minority. Sorkin sought $450,000 for lost earnings, and an additional unspecified amount for harm to her professional reputation and emotional injury. Sorkin additionally claimed that after she denounced the move as unfair, Di Bona changed plans and hired new cohost Tawny Kitaen, who is white.^[4]

In May 2011, Di Bona, a leading member of the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors was censured for standing by his remarks that he accepts Hollywood's discrimination against conservatives, causing fellow member Lionel Chetwynd to publicly resign from the Caucus the following month. Di Bona made comments in relation to the publication Prime Time Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV, that personally affected Chetwynd and eventually caused a falling out between the two.^[5]

References[link]