Charlie Ebersol and Justin Hochberg are launching their own production company, The Hochberg Ebersol Company (or THE Company for short, kind of like Vegas’ THEhotel).
Already wrapped and ready to go is Off the Grid: Million Dollar Manhunt, a one-hour special that will air on History Channel on Dec. 8 at 11 p.m.
“We’ve built a company that is nimble like a start-up and delivers the quality of an industry giant,” said The Hochberg Ebersol Company co-founder, Justin Hochberg, sounding very confident in a statement. “We’re creating world-wide formats and leveraging brands and new technologies to deliver shows that will grab headlines.”
“Justin and I have a team that allows us to go beyond what most consider possible. If the project requires us to defy gravity, we’ll figure out how to float four feet off the ground. We have sky-high expectations for every project we work on and thus we are constantly looking for challenges that demand innovation at every level of production, from packaging big-name talent that you’d never expect, to making unprecedented deals,” said Ebersol, son of Dick Ebersol, the legendary former chairman of NBC Sports who is currently serving the company as a senior advisor.
Other shows in the works include action-adventure reality competition, The Great Escape, for TNT, which they are executive producing with Imagine Television’s Rob Howard and Brian Grazer (you’ve heard of those guys, right?) and The Amazing Race’s Bertram van Munster.
Based in Beverly Hills, The Hochberg Ebersol Company creates, packages and produces scripted, unscripted, docu-series and competition-format programs that are intended to “make a difference for its brands, cast members and audience,” according to the release. In addition, THE Company operates a “full-service branded entertainment agency … working with many of the world’s most respected advertisers, from packaged goods and media companies, to resorts and jet companies, and even the U.S. government.”
“Most brands do not want to make TV,” says Hochberg. “They want to sell stuff. And we help them deliver their sales messages and, more importantly, sell their products long after a show airs.”
Hochberg has architected more than $100 million in product integration deals during his career, first with Microsoft and then working with Mark Burnett – who clearly inspired THE Company’s business model — as a producer on shows such as The Apprentice and The Contender.
Ebersol produces and directs film and television, most recently co-creating and executive producing NBC’s The Wanted, a reality news show that tracked terrorists.
The Hochberg Ebersol Company is an affiliate company of LANCO, which is involved in real estate, energy, construction and other businesses.
