Thom Beers

Thom Beers’ passion for honoring every day heroes and his gift for telling their stories has firmly established his non-fiction brand, Original Productions, as television’s number one creator of honest-to-goodness unscripted reality programming.

The driving force behind the Primetime Emmy® winning “Deadliest Catch,” and “Ice Road Truckers,” and top-rated shows “,” “Monster Garage,” and “Black Gold”, Beers has created a unique brand of television programming featuring unheralded heroes in high risk, high reward situations. His catalogue of more than 40 series is firmly entrenched across cable powerhouses Discovery Communications Networks, History, WeTV, SPIKE TV, The National Geographic Channel, TruTV and TLC among others.

Beers believes viewers are tired of customary reality programming fare. “Audiences are asking for something that’s real. They want to watch real people, having actual life experiences, facing true challenges,” says Beers. “And that’s what we give them. Real heroes from real life.” The New York Times says about Beers “He is the unchallenged king of a reality television form variously known by names like ‘macho TV’ or ‘testoster-reality’ that has swept across cable channels like a ratings-driven wildfire.

When he founded Original Productions in 1999, Beers began producing and distributing a slate of unique programming domestically and internationally. Less than a decade later, his company is one of television’s leading suppliers of unscripted reality programming. His award-winning company has built a strong relationship with networks including NBC, TruTV, Discovery, History, A&E, SPIKE TV, National Geographic, TLC, Animal Planet, and WEtv. Beers’ first foray into reality programming was with Discovery Networks, initially delivering a quick succession of hit documentaries. His unique and stylized documentary film “Motorcycle Mania II” made its world premiere on Discovery, where it remains one of the network’s highest rated documentaries.

His dramatic adventure documentary “Deadliest Jobs,” about the dangers of crab fishing in the Bering Sea, became another ratings winner for the network. It inspired the hit series “Deadliest Catch,” which has became a signature show for Original Productions. The second, third and fourth seasons of “Deadliest Catch” proved to be even bigger successes for Discovery, emerging as the network’s highest-rated series and scoring a total of eight Primetime Emmy® Award nominations. In 2009 Beers will release his first television movie event, “The Deadliest Sea” produced for Discovery.

In the summer of 2007, Beers produced “Ice Road Truckers” for History with stunning success. The audience favorite was the highest rated series of programs ever to air on the network and the Emmy® nominated show is now in its second season. Last year, Original Productions also created History’s second highest rated series, “Ax Men” and the show is enjoying its second season early in 2009.

Produced for the 2008 season, Beers developed “Black Gold” debuting in June on TruTV; “Alien Intent,” an A&E pilot; “Verminators,” and “Iditarod” for Discovery and “1,000 Ways to Die” for Spike TV. Viewers continue to enjoy episodes from Beers’ early trademark series such as “Monster Garage,” “Biker Build-Off,” “Monster House,” and “Backyard Nation.”

Not one to let the grass grow under his feet, Beers debuted his first graphic novel, “Chopper Zombie” at Comic Con 2008. Created by Beers, co-written with Todd Livingston and illustrated by Scott Keating, the book follows the fate of brilliant motorcycle builder, Taz, who refuses to sell his formula for a new super-fuel to a dangerous corporation. When a team of thugs drowns him in his own toxic creation, he rises from the dead with a score to settle. As a follow-up to the book, Original Productions is now in development on a feature film. 

When Beers founded Original Productions, he had served 11 years as a production executive and series and specials producer for Turner Broadcasting; and later held a similar position at Paramount Syndicated Television in Los Angeles. As Vice President/Supervising Producer for Turner Original Productions, Beers responsibilities encompassed supervising original programming for TBS Superstation, including the award-winning series “National Geographic Explorer,” “Network Earth” and “The Jacques Cousteau” Specials. Beers created and executive produced the TBS and syndicated series “Wild! Life Adventures.” He also served as the producer for the highest-rated specials in the history of Turner Original Productions – “Harley Davidson The American Motorcycle,” the Emmy® winning “Cats And Dogs,” and “The Incredible Life and Times of Robert L. Ripley, Believe It or Not.” Beers was also one of the creators and supervising producer of the animated series “Captain Planet” and the “Planeteers,” and prior to that served as Vice President of Development for TBS Productions. While at Paramount, he was the Series Producer for the hit syndicated wildlife series “Wild Things” for Paramount Television.

Before turning his energies toward producing, Beers began his career as an actor, performing in numerous stage productions in New York and along the eastern seaboard. He keeps his hand in the performing side of the entertainment business, providing the powerful narration for most of Original Productions’ series.

In February 2009, FremantleMedia, one of the largest creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world, acquired a majority stake in Original Productions. The deal allows Thom Beers and his team at Original Productions to expand its growing slate.

Thom Beers is a sought after speaker at industry conferences and seminars being asked to address organizations such as the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), The  Realscreen Summit, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). He is a former Board of Director’s member of Mountainfilm; and currently serves on the Honorary Board of Trustees of this Telluride, Colorado,  noted independent documentary film festival; Beers is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the International Documentary Association. He is an avid car collector and motorcycle enthusiast who sports a rusty golf swing. He lives with his wife and son in Los Angeles.

Leslie Beers

As President of Amygdala Music, the music publishing and soundtrack division of ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS, Leslie D. Beers oversees the placement of original music in all series, specials and documentaries. This includes such popular shows as Deadliest Catch, Monster Garage and Biker Build Off on The Discovery Channel, Plastic Surgery Before and After on Discovery Health Channel, and The Messengers on TLC (The Learning Channel.) The company received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music for Zen House from composer Daniel Mackenzie in the Discovery Channel series Monster House. The company also licenses music from its extensive catalogue for use in other television productions and has released four soundtrack albums available through Amazon, iTunes and local retail stories, as well as on its own web site. (www.Amygdalamusic.com). Those albums are Monster Garage 1, Monster Garage 2, Monster House and Motorcycle Mania featuring Jesse James and Kid Rock. The soundtrack for Deadliest Catch is currently in the works.

Ms. Beers, who is a passionate singer and artist herself and believes strongly about helping musicians, works with established and up-and-coming artists to bring new audiences to their music through AMYGDALA MUSIC. She prides herself on recognizing quality music by cutting edge artists such as composer Dieter Hartmann, Andrew Kubiszewski and the band Pilot Drift.

With the arrival of ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS UK, Ms. Beers looks forward to expanding Amygdala's licenses throughout Europe and Asia.

Ms. Beers has been instrumental in the design of the ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS corporate offices, adding a touch of whimsy with vibrant colors, utilizing the colors of nature. Her vision and design sensibility is evident in the building, as she believes that environment is crucial to inspiring her employees plus the balance of female and male energy.

Ms. Beers is married to Thom and they have one son, Max. A self-professed gypsy, Ms. Beers also has her own line of jewelry.

Philip Segal

As President of Original Productions, Philip Segal has operating responsibility for the company’s hundreds of hours of original programming. Segal integrates Original Productions’ business, creative development and production entities for all of its programming including: History’s top rated Emmy® Nominated “Ice Road Truckers” now in its third season; and prime-time Emmy ® winner “The Deadliest Catch” currently in its fifth season on Discovery.  Additional programming under Segal’s purview includes: “Black Gold” scheduled for a second season on TruTV; “Verminators,” and “Iditarod” “Pitchmen: Gadgets to Glory” for Discovery, and “1,000 Ways to Die” for SpikeTV.

His latest project is to bring Original Productions to full-length feature production with the debut of “The Deadliest Sea”. Based on the runaway hit “The Deadliest Catch”, the film is a two-hour prime time scripted movie event set to premiere on Discovery in the summer of 2009. Additionally, two Original Production viewer favorites, “Monster Garage” and “Lobstermen” will be back in production in 2009.

Prior to joining Original Productions in 2005, Segal spent three years as Executive Vice President of Bunim-Murray Productions, creators and producers of MTV’s “The Real World” and E! Entertainment’s “The Simple Life.” Previously, as Senior Vice President of Programming and Production for Tribune Entertainment, Segal supervised more than 150 hours of scripted programming that encompassed Gene Roddenberry’s “Andromeda,” “BeastMaster,” “Mutant X,” “Earth: Final Conflict” and “Adventure Inc.”

From 1990 to 1996, Segal was Executive Vice President of Amblin Television at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. He was responsible for the creation of “seaQuest DSV” starring Roy Scheider on NBC and “Earth 2.”  Additionally, Segal oversaw production of “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” and the Stephen Hawking documentary “A Brief History of Time,” winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. During his tenure at Amblin, Segal also worked with John Wells on the creation of NBC’s award winning series “ER.” 

Before joining Amblin, Segal was a programming executive at ABC Television for three seasons, where he oversaw some of the network’s most groundbreaking series, including “thirtysomething,” “Twin Peaks,” “MacGyver,” “Cop Rock” with Steven Bochco and the award-winning series “China Beach” starring Dana Delaney. 

Segal began his multi-faceted industry career at Fenton Feinberg Casting, the ICM TV Literary Department training program and Columbia Pictures Television. In the mid-1990’s he also ran Lakeshore Television, where he directed “The Other Side of Monday,” which won the “Best Director” Award from the New York International Film Festival; wrote and directed “Hobbs End;” and developed “Mission to Mars” for ABC. A long-time fan of the BBC’s immensely popular science fiction series “Doctor Who”, Segal was instrumental in creating and producing The Doctor’s eighth regeneration in the 1996 telemovie, “Doctor Who” and bringing back the BBC favorite to a devoted audience. In 2000, he co-wrote a book about the production, titled “Doctor Who: Regeneration.” 

Born in the United Kingdom, Segal was raised in Southern California and is a graduate of San Diego State University with a degree in Telecommunications.  He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and Producers Guild of America (PGA).  In 2008 Segal was named to the Board of Directors of the prestigious MountainFilm in Telluride, Colorado;  and as a family man, is passionate about his wife and son and The San Diego Chargers football team. He is an avid toy collector and miniature model builder. 

Tim Beers

Tim Beers has served as the Chief Financial Officer for Original Productions since March 2003. Original Productions is the television production company known for the hit Discovery Channel series Monster Garage, Monster House, Biker Build-Off and the Primetime Emmy-nominated series Deadliest Catch.

As CFO, Tim is responsible for all accounting, financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, tax, internal audit, strategic planning and analysis functions for Original Productions. Beers is also President of O-Merch, the product placement, licensing and merchandising affiliate of Original Productions.

Prior to joining Original Productions, Beers worked in the banking industry, including JP Morgan Chase in New York where he worked in the corporate banking department for five years, and Key Bank in Buffalo.

Ernie Avila

As Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Affairs, Ernie Avila is in charge of all business operations plus management of IT, facilities and Max Post for ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS.

Mr. Avila joined ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS in 1999 when the company was producing just five hours of programming. Since then, he has been instrumental in helping to negotiate all of the company's production deals, including talent agreements, footage and still clearances and working with vendors including the DISCOVERY CHANNEL, THE HISTORY CHANNEL, TLC (THE LEARNING CHANNEL),NBC Universal, and other networks for all of ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS reality programs. He also oversees Max Post, the company˙s post production facility.

Prior to joining ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS, Mr. Avila spent eighteen years at Reuters where he worked in the financial services department which managed broker workstations. There, he was also a member of the financial team that audited the company˙s communications network in order to reconcile communications costs to the company˙s budget.

Mr. Avila studied business at the University of Phoenix in Los Angeles. He and his wife Shavaun live in Los Angeles, where they have raised their three children.

George Puckhaber

As Vice President, Production for ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS, George Puckhaber oversees the production of all series and specials for the company. Mr. Puckhaber supervised the production of 120 hours of programming in 2005 and is currently involved with a dozen programs in active production, including the Discovery Channel hit series DEADLIEST CATCH, which has garnered three Emmy nominations including Outstanding Nonfiction Series. He is also leading the way on the new season of Discovery˙s BIKER BUILD OFF and FUGITIVE STRIKE FORCE, a new series for Discovery slated to air in Fall 2006. Mr. Puckhaber recently wrapped five seasons of MONSTER GARAGE, the Discovery Channel˙s top rated series starring Jesse James. Other projects he has overseen for ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS have aired on networks including TLC, Discovery Health, Spike, and FX.

Mr. Puckhaber has over 19 years of production supervision experience in the television industry. A veteran television executive, he started his career in the mailroom at Turner Broadcasting System in Atlanta. Mr. Puckhaber worked his way up through a variety of production and management positions and was promoted to vice president, production for Turner Original Productions after five years at the company. In this position, Mr. Puckhaber was responsible for overseeing the financing, production and delivery of over 150 hours of original programming for TBS, TNT and the CNN Networks. During his tenure at Turner, he worked on the award winning series THE COLD WAR, David Attenborough˙s TRIALS OF LIFE and TBS four part series DRIVING PASSION: AMERICA˙S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE CAR.

In April 1997, Mr. Puckhaber moved to Washington, D.C. where he was Vice President of Production and Business Affairs for ALEXANDRIA PRODUCTIONS. While there, he produced shows for TLC (The Learning Channel) including ROME: POWER AND GLORY narrated by Peter Coyote, HERO SCHOOL, MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE for NBC and Animal Planet˙s 1999 CANINE FRISBEE DISC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP plus 60 episodes of ballroom dancing competition for GoodLife TV and a weekly science/news program for Discovery Science.

Mr. Puckhaber has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina and he is an avid motorcyclist.

Jeff Conroy

Promoted in September 2007 to his current position as Vice President, Programming, Conroy works with the company’s production teams to ensure the Original Productions’ brand of storytelling develops into the compelling and engaging shows television audiences have come to demand. He is Thom Beer’s key architect in designing how the Original Productions teams plan production, shoot, produce, and tell great stories in difficult and dangerous environments.

Early in his tenure at Original Productions, Conroy played a lead role in developing “Monster Garage,” a five season staple on the Discovery Channel, and was its Supervising Producer. “Monster Garage” is currently in production for a new series release on Discovery, scheduled for premiere in 2009. Among Conroy’s many development and production projects is the third season of “Ice Road Truckers,” and the second season of “Ax Men,” two of the highest rated series on HISTORY; a second season of “Black Gold” for TruTV, and the 2009 premiere of “PitchMen” on Discovery.

Conroy is the Executive Producer on the Emmy® Award winning “Deadliest Catch,” now in its fifth hit season on Discovery. In 2008 the series won accolades from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) for Outstanding Cinematography in Nonfiction programming: Additional 2008 Emmy® nominations included: Outstanding Nonfiction Series, Picture Editing and Sound Mixing for Nonfiction Programming, and Outstanding Special Class Short-Format Nonfiction Programs.

It is Conroy’s belief that “Monster Garage” and “Deadliest Catch” were the series that helped Original Productions refine its authentic storytelling ability. He is passionate about every aspect of his behind the scenes mission of feeding a bigger vision, from guiding camera operators, producers, and show runners to presenting the most compelling true story.

Conroy got his start in the production industry as many do, working as a Production Assistant. Quickly mastering the art of coffee retrieval, he earned a spot as Segment Producer for the TLC show “How’d They Do That?” A number of freelance writing and producing jobs followed including a stretch with the History Channel’s pivotal series “Modern Marvels.”

Jeff Conroy lives in Los Angeles, is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) and happily married with three children.

Justin Killion

As Vice President, Development, Justin Killion works with company president, Phil Segal, and CEO/Executive Producer, Thom Beers, to oversee the firm’s development slate for both scripted and non-scripted programming. Killion is charged with creatively developing concepts internally as well as hearing pitches from agents, managers, talent, and other producers. Killion is also responsible for pitching Original’s newest concepts to the networks and studios.

Prior to joining Original Productions in March 2009, Killion spent three years working on the Columbia Pictures lot as a literary talent manager/producer for Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment. During his tenure he sold film/tv scripts and pitches to most major studios and networks. Killion worked to represent some of Hollywood’s best up and coming writers and directors whose film credits included BLADES OF GLORY, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, THE ROCKER, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, 5 KILLERS and KNOWING and whose television credits included CBS’ THE UNIT, Cartoon Network’s ROBOT CHICKEN, Discovery’s ONE WAY OUT and MTV’s ROB & BIG.

In addition, several of Killion’s projects were listed on the 2007 and 2008 Blacklists, Hollywood’s yearly index of the top 100 screenplays, and he also Co-Executive Produced the series KEYS TO THE VIP for Fuse Network. During his term at Kaplan/Perrone, the firm produced several films including YOU, ME AND DUPREE for Universal Pictures, MADE OF HONOR for Columbia Pictures, and KNOWING for Summit Entertainment.

Killion began his career under the guidance of producer Mason Novick (JUNO, JENNIFER’S BODY) before going on to work in the Alternative Television Department as well as the Motion Picture Literary Department of the Endeavor Agency (now known as WME) where he gained an intimate knowledge for television/film development, packaging, and deal-making.

Killion was born and raised in Massachusetts and is a graduate of Assumption College as well as Boston University’s Film/TV Entertainment Program. In his spare time, Killion enjoys reading, watching television & film, video games, basketball and relaxing in Green Harbor, MA.