Panelist:Matt Kunitz
Executive Producer
Matt Kunitz currently holds a production deal with reality powerhouse Endemol USA, which produces hits including "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Deal or No Deal," "Wipeout," "Big Brother" and "Fear Factor." In the summer of 2008, Kunitz executive produced two primetime network series, "Celebrity Circus" for NBC and "Wipeout" for ABC. Kunitz created "Wipeout" to appeal to the same family demographic that made "Fear Factor" so successful. "Wipeout" quickly became a hit, becoming the second highest rated summer show (both in 18-49 and total viewers) leading the LA Times to call Kunitz the "King of Reality TV." Kunitz's "Wipeout" format has been sold to twenty countries and counting. In addition to his duties on the second season of "Wipeout," Kunitz is consulting on a new series for Sci Fi, and is executive producing a pilot, which he created, for Showtime.
Endemol and Kunitz have a long history; the studio produced "Fear Factor" for NBC, and Kunitz was the executive producer. During his six-year overall deal at NBC Universal Studios, Matt Kunitz became one of television's hottest producers of reality programming. "Fear Factor" became a programming staple on the NBC schedule for 145 episodes. The series set audience records and broke near-decade-old network ones while reaching as high as 19 million viewers.
Kunitz was the driving force behind all six seasons of Fear Factor. Also at NBC, Kunitz served as the executive producer of "Dog Eat Dog" and "Late Friday," and as a consultant on "Lost" and "Treasure Hunters."
A native of San Diego, Kunitz graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television in 1990 before beginning his career working on several network shows. His various production credits include "Unsolved Mysteries," the TV movie "Lady Against the Odds," the Pierce Brosnan pilot "Running Wilde," George Foreman's sitcom, "George" and the NBC movie "Class Reunion."
In 1993, Kunitz joined MTV's "The Real World" for the show's second season and quickly rose through the program's production ranks to become the show runner. His creative contributions helped make "The Real World" a pop culture phenomenon and gave it a unique imprint that targeted the 12-34 year-old age demographic as the series' ratings climbed yearly. His additional credits for MTV include the special "The Real World Reunion" and the series "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge."
