On the softball diamond, every player faces the batter except the catcher, who looks out at all the action, taking a broader view of the game. Young Lucilla D’Agostino played catcher on her high-school varsity team.
“My stepfather helped me understand that the catcher was calling the shots and because I saw everything and could position players, I could help everyone on the field realize their potential and see how we could all win together,” said D’Agostino, one of unscripted television’s leading creatives and producers, with credits across virtually every content genre, including documentary, docusoap, lifestyle, and competition. Last summer, she was named head of both Evolution Media and Big Fish Entertainment (both MGM companies), overseeing creative strategy, original programming and development and leveraging intellectual property for growth across different platforms.
“I still feel that’s my job,” she said. “If I see talent in someone and put them in the right gig I’ll make a warrior out of that person.”
If I see talent in someone and put them in the right gig, I’ll make a warrior out of that person.”
— Lucilla D’Agostino
D’Agostino grew up in rural New Jersey, loving writing. Fantasizing about being a war correspondent, she studied broadcast journalism at Syracuse University. Being on camera early in her career, though, changed her mind.
“I was so insecure,” she recalled. “When they told me I needed to cut my hair, I called my mother crying. She said: ‘You are not meant for this. Don’t you love plugging everything in?’ She meant I was good at putting things together. ‘Just do that, then you won’t cry.’ ”
Putting things together and plugging them in is another good metaphor for D’Agostino’s work. In her new role, she’s now heading up two companies with properties including Evolution’s Vanderpump Rules and Real Housewives. She had previously produced The Real Housewives of New Jersey for Sirens Media.
D’Agostino, who splits her time between her Brooklyn home and Los Angeles hotels, joined Big Fish in 2018 as its first chief creative officer and co-president. While she strives to ensure the folks at Evolution know “I’m not here to mess with your culture; I’m here to be your cheerleader,” she does intend to keep pushing both companies in new directions. “There’s such a compression in our business and wins are fewer and far between,” she said. “The status quo won’t get us where we need to go. We have to adapt.”
Adaptable Across Genres
D’Agostino has varied enough experience to adapt. She has executive produced such series as Amy Schumer Learns To Cook, A White House Thanksgiving With First Lady Jill Biden, History’s Greatest Mysteries with Laurence Fishburne and On Patrol: Live, as well as documentaries and other series for networks such as Discovery, National Geographic and Bravo.
“Some people have a skill set as a showrunner but not as a businessperson or the other way around but she does both well,” Barry Poznick, the MGM Alternative general manager to whom she reports, said. “She is thoughtful and mindful of people — crews love working with her — but she doesn’t waste time and is always aware of budgets and deadlines. She can walk into any room, whether it’s the White House or a Housewives house, and get you exactly what you need.”
In an era before reality TV flourished, D’Agostino went through her own evolution. She started doing satellite video news releases. She worked with Dan Cesareo, who would later launch Big Fish and bring her aboard, making content on a nonexistent budget.
“We were the producers, the writers, the shooters, the editors,” she said. “We used to pool our money and sit on the curb and share a sandwich.”
A job creating content for Sony Music on the lives of pop icons like Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child also required her to be producer, camera operator and editor, creating graphics and picking the music. The job was “wildly gratifying” and those years are “the secret to my success,” she said.
“I understand the business from every angle,” she said. “I can break down a budget and know the grip is going to want an extra set of hands because I would have if I had that many lights. I see things holistically.”
While she has done it all, she doesn’t know it all. “I’m the type of leader that’s quite pleased to admit that I don’t know everything,” D’Agostino said. “If I have something to learn, that means I’m still growing.”
