Los Angeles, CA – December 9, 2014 – Tremendous! Entertainment (TEI), producers of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (Travel Channel), Ghost Asylum (Destination America) and Rock the Park (The CW), today announced that production and development executive Andy Meyer, whose credits include American Idol (FOX), SportsCentury (ESPN) and Blind Date (Universal), has joined TEI as VP of development. Based in New York City, Meyer will lead the company’s new East Coast operations and spearhead the expansion of its already diverse production slate. Minnesota-based Barron Whittet also joins the Tremendous! development team as creative director of development.
“Andy is a well-respected and seasoned strategic thinker with experience on both the network and production company side and has a long track record for creating and producing a wide array of programming,” said Tremendous! Entertainment founder and CEO Colleen Needles Steward. “He is a great partner to network execs, and his leadership will be key to Tremendous! as we continue to expand our development slate and our reach from Los Angeles and Minnesota to New York City and beyond.
“With series like Bizarre Foods, one of the longest-running formats in travel and lifestyle programming and Destination America’s new paranormal hit Ghost Asylum, Tremendous already develops successful programming across a broad spectrum of reality television,” said Meyer. “I’m excited to join such an exceptional group of professionals and help the team continue to expand into new genres as well as reach emerging audiences through alternative digital platforms.”
Most recently, Meyer served as head of development at Jarrett Creative Group where he led series development and developed projects for Bravo, E!, MTV, History Channel, Esquire and others. A leading producer, development and network executive in reality, entertainment, sports and new media, Meyer began his career as a producer on some of the biggest and most influential hits in reality and documentary television including ESPN Sports Century, Blind Date (MTV), Paradise Hotel (FOX), Trading Spaces (TLC), Big Tips Texas (MTV) and Married by America (FOX) and was on the production team for the first season of American Idol (FOX). Meyer served as the head of original programming for Versus (now NBC Sports Network), as well as VP original programming and production for music network Fuse, where he oversaw the development production for all of Fuse’s original series and specials for both the linear cable channel and Fuse’s pioneering multi-platform distribution.
For more than five years, freelance producer and editor Barron Whittet has helped Tremendous! launch new series like Angels Among Us (TLC), Ghost Asylum (Destination America), Off Pitch (VH1) and Little Pig Man (National Geographic) by creating the perfect pitch and pilot. Now, he joins the company full-time as its creative director of development and will work hand in hand with Andy Meyer and the rest of the TEI development team. Previously, Whittet helped launch new shows for ABC, Lifetime, and more with Metropolitan Hodder Group.
“Barron has been working creative magic for Tremendous! Entertainment for many years and we are thrilled to have him as a full-time member of our team,” said Colleen Needles Steward. “He has a way of capturing the essence of characters and promoting new content that is unrivaled.”
