Thomas Beers

Thom Beers (born July 20, 1952, in Batavia, New York) is one of the most prolific and influential figures in American unscripted television. He earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Ithaca College in the 1970s, began his career as a stage actor, and then moved into production at Turner Broadcasting System before working as a senior producer at Paramount Syndicated Television. He spent roughly two decades in network production and syndication before striking out on his own.

In the late 1990s Beers founded Original Productions, the studio that became synonymous with "tough jobs" television. Its slate includes *Deadliest Catch* (a Discovery Channel breakout that has won more than a dozen Primetime Emmys), *Ice Road Truckers*, *Ax Men*, *Monster Garage*, *PitchMen*, and *Storage Wars*. Beers personally narrated many of these series, developing the gravel-toned voice that became a genre signature. He is a three-time Emmy-winning producer.

In 2009 FremantleMedia acquired Original Productions and named Beers CEO of FremantleMedia North America. In that role he oversaw more than 600 hours of programming a year across networks including FOX, NBC, CBS and Discovery — including marquee formats such as *American Idol*, *America's Got Talent*, *The X Factor*, *Let's Make a Deal*, *Family Feud* and *The Price Is Right*. He stepped down from the CEO role in 2015–2016 and founded Bobcat TV, a digital studio focused on factual streaming content.

Beyond production, Beers served as an independent board member of ValueVision Media (which rebranded as EVINE Live, later iMedia Brands), the publicly traded home-shopping company. As part of the company's "Dollars Per Minute" transaction he received stock worth roughly $532,867 in payment for convertible bridge notes he held. He resigned from the EVINE Live board, effective May 2, 2019 (alongside director Mark Holdsworth), with no reason publicly disclosed.

• Invests as an angel/early-stage backer, primarily where his media and content expertise gives him an edge — entrepreneurial, B2B media and information-services businesses.
• Co-founded Business Rockstars with Steve Lehman explicitly as a deal-sourcing platform. Per Lehman, it began as a daily LA radio show that was "a way for Thom and I to meet cool companies to invest in."
• Drawn to brand-driven, distribution-savvy content businesses; in announcing the 2020 sale of Business Rockstars he emphasized partners "incredibly well versed in OTT and alternative distribution platforms."
• His track record favors founder-operators building scalable, IP- and format-heavy media franchises — the same instincts that turned niche documentary concepts into long-running global franchises.