AMC Content Studio Portfolio
I wanted to gather together links in one place to some of my favorite work we did in our Content Studio at AMC Networks, along with some more color commentary on how they were made, and why they were so cool:
AMERICAN GREED: JIMMY MCGILL
Short form scripted video
A faux episode of the MSNBC true crime series AMERICAN GREED focused on a certain "criminal" lawyer. Dreamt up by Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan, made with NBCU, Sony and Kurtis Productions, it was meticulously produced to look exactly like a real episode and released on April Fool's Day to sneak the final season of SAUL. Herding the cats of all these production companies and rival networks was a real feat. The piece won a Gold Clio, but more importantly, it was hilarious.
DEAD IN THE WATER
Long-form scripted video special
Zombies infect a nuclear submarine! What could be better than that? This short-form series was also released as a special and became a sleeper hit and subscriber acquisition monster on AMC+. Produced with the amazing Bacon & Sons, starring Nick Stahl and John Glover (who I got to grill about GREMLINS 2 and SCROOGED), with some of the grossest zombie gags I've seen KNB EFX do in The Walking Dead Universe, including creative and deadly use of a flattop grill.
BETTER CALL SAUL: EMPLOYEE TRAINING
Short-form scripted video
This multi-season short-form series of training videos from the POV of characters in the SAUL universe, including Gus Fring, Mike Ehrmantraut, Kim Wexler and Howard Hamlin, was dreamt up by editorial lead Adam Bryant and brought to life by animator Jay Marks and Bacon & Sons. It ended up winning 2 Emmys and a Critics Choice Award (so far).
Just for a little behind-the-scenes knowledge, the germ of this series lay in a one-off short we made, where we had Jay Marks animate a moment from our BETTER CALL SAUL Fan Podcast, in which Bob Odenkirk and Mark Proksch (energy vampire Colin Robinson on WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS) waxed eloquently about sexual perversity involving dessert:
YOU ARE HERE
Multiplatform unscripted series
Working with Colman Domingo has been a highlight over the past 3 years. Starting with our BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH AT COLMAN'S series that launched during Covid quarantine, all the way to this 4-part travel memoir produced by Colman and his husband Raul, and Zero Point Zero Productions. Pulling together sponsors Diageo and Johnnie Walker with these shows was a no-brainer, considering what a cocktail aficionado Colman is.
FABULOUS FEAR MACHINE
Videogame
From AMC Game Studios, it's like Plague, Inc., but with folklore horror. I love how Simon Ferrari, Clayton Neuman and the developers Fictiorama Studios were able to create a truly unique game that still made a ton of sense with the AMC/Shudder brand.
THE WALKING DEAD UNIVERSE RPG
Tabletop game
I couldn't even imagine a world where we would be creating a full-on tabletop role-playing game, much less that it would be so fun. Kudos to Free League Publishing on the meticulous world-building on this one.
SIDEBAR: semi-connected to this one in awesomeness was the partnership we did with Wizards of the Coast on a special Magic: The Gathering + The Walking Dead card set. My MTG-obsessed son was particularly pleased with this one.
SHOW ME MORE: DARK WINDS
Long-form docu-series
The Show Me More series of behind-the-scenes documentaries we developed, overseen by AMC production mastermind Angelika Zbikowski with partners including BARK BARK and BlackSpot are singular in the industry, super-popular with fans on-air and all digital platforms, and brands and sponsors also.
Some episodes were hosted by stars like Patrick Fabian Annabeth Gish, in others, stars like Norman Reedus would be our on-set guides. The episode linked above, focusing on Season 2 of Native American noir DARK WINDS, is a personal fave.
COOPER'S BAR
Sitcom
Somehow we got to make a full-on raunchy CHEERS-style sitcom? Character actor (and true mensch) Lou Mustillo co-starred with Rhea Seehorn and many more for an ensemble comedy that, and I quote S&P, "used our full allotment of fucks in dialogue for this season." Sponsors Bacardi and Diageo were, thankfully, fine with two seasons of increasing raunch.
TRUE TERROR, WITH GEORGE TAKEI
Short-form docu-series
A short-form series that updates the classic UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES format, with the astounding George Takei as host. Released in conjunction with the second season of the AMC horror series THE TERROR, Takei was a master, seemingly ageless, and worked so hard and so late on set he put us all to shame.
Around the same time, we produced another non-fiction short-form series hosted by Giancarlo Esposito, THE BROKEN AND THE BAD, that dove into the true stories behind the world of BREAKING BAD. When Covid hit, we hired Giancarlo's own film student daughter to finish directing the show while they were all locked down in quarantine.
THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUE CRIME
Podcast/Short-form docu-series
Bringing in the fascinating Amanda Knox to guide our meta-true crime series for audio and then Facebook Video was a real eye-opening experience in terms of understanding justice, forgiveness and mercy in this country. Also, this podcast led to myself and podcast guru Celia Quinnette getting to meet and hear amazing first-hand true crime stories from people like Jim Jones, Jr. (yes, he was in Guyana when it happened) and Lorena Bobbitt.
ANNE RICE UNIVERSE COMPANIONS
Podcast
Collaborating with hosts Amy Nicholson and Naomi Ekperigan, and Pineapple Street Media, to dive deeeeeeeep into the world of Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE and MAYFAIR WITCHES was a real treat. Amy and Naomi both had completely different hosting styles, and both worked incredibly well. A fun match of pop culture fandom, interviews and the cerebral side, digging into inspirations and themes, these were top-notch watch-along podcasts for the Anne Rice shows.
ORPHAN BLACK: THE NEXT CHAPTER
Scripted Podcast
The fiction podcast gurus at Realm worked with us at BBC America to create two seasons of this scripted podcast that continued the story of cult favorite ORPHAN BLACK, bringing back Tatiana Maslany and much of the rest of the cast as voice talent. It also served to keep the Clone Club fan flame alive as they wait for the sequel series on AMC next year, ORPHAN BLACK: ECHOES.
PREACHER ART GALLERY
Digital Comics
We did a ton of art projects, digital and real-world comics, and coffee table books during my time at AMC, but I have a real soft spot for the series of exclusive art we did for the series PREACHER, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. And that's because it gave me a chance to meet and have one amazing meal with the legendary comic book artist Steve Dillon, who did one of the art pieces, before he passed away.
DISPATCHES FROM ELSEWHERE: ALTERNATE REALITY GAME
Experiential activation (not sure what the hell to call it, ha!)
Jason Segel's ahead-of-its-time meta-tragi-comic series DISPATCHES FROM ELSEWHERE focused on a quartet of strangers (Segel, Sally Field, Andre 3000 and Eve Lindley) who got caught up in a virtual game that took over their real lives. And Jason wanted to recreate the experience for the show audience as well, so we created an activation that started before the show even premiered, mirrored the games and stunts of the show throughout its run, and resulted in video from real-life fans and players actually being a part of the climax of the series finale.
I've never run a production quite like it, and straddling Covid quarantine smack dab in the middle of the experience added a level of complexity, to say the least.
SLIPPIN' JIMMY
Animated short-form series
Animated in the style of Fat Albert and other classic Saturday morning cartoons by the hilarious geniuses at Starburns Industries, each episode of this series was an homage to a different movie beloved by James McGill, and starring his younger self, his brother Chuck, and best friend Marco. All honesty, fans were really split on this series, and it's a great lesson in finding the sweet spot between fan service and creative innovation, and how tricky finding it can be. But we really, really dug them, in particular the episode linked above, inspired by THE EXORCIST, featuring the voice of legendary comic Laraine Newman as a possessed nun.