PRODUCING THE BRIGHTEST ENTERTAINMENT
IN TELEVISION PROGRAMMING
PRODUCING THE BRIGHTEST ENTERTAINMENT
IN TELEVISION PROGRAMMING
51 Minds Entertainment is the traditionally non-scripted production powerhouse behind shows like Below Deck (Bravo), Below Deck: Mediterranean (Bravo), Truck Night in America (History Channel), The Grand Hustle (BET) and T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle (VH1). A division of Endemol Shine North America, 51 Minds recently expanded into scripted TV and film, including BEATS for Netflix. Christian Sarabia serves as President, 51 Minds Entertainment, while Temple Williams serves as Chief Operating Officer.
A squall’s afoot near the Isle of Capri. The seas are gray, the sky is angry, and only two things are certain: Someone’s gonna bitch and someone’s gonna barf. This week, La Isla Bonita becomes La Isla Full of Bitches after the Talisman Maiton unleashes its charter guest-squad of Medusas upon its fair lands. The […]
BET Networks has partnered with Grand Hustle Productions on The Grand Hustle, from Grammy-winning rapper, actor and entrepreneur Tip “T.I.” Harris for a July premiere. Set in Atlanta, the 12-episode hourlong series features 16 business-minded men and women vying for a coveted position with a six-figure salary within Tip’s multimillion-dollar Grand Hustle business empire. The […]
It’s truck versus terrain, as 50 truck owners from across the United States compete in grueling challenges that test their ingenuity and driving ability in HISTORY’s new ten episode nonfiction competition series, “Truck Night in America” premiering on Thursday, March 8 at 10PM ET/PT. With the assistance of four experts, owners will compete for the […]
VH1 earned its highest primetime adults 18-49 Live+Same Day ratings average on any night since 2013 with the Season 6 premieres of “Basketball Wives” and “TI & Tiny: The Family Hustle” and Week 7 of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, according to Deadline. “Basketball Wives” at 9 p.m. opened its sixth season with 2.6 million […]
We see another season of Below Deck on the horizon. That’s right. Get ready for more wild yachties and hard-to-please charter guests when Below Deck returns for Season 5. You know that drama takes on a whole new meaning when it takes on water. When Below Deck returns, you better believe there are going to […]
VH1, coming off seven consecutive quarters of ratings growth, has unveiled its 2017-18 slate heading into upront meetings with advertisers. It includes a Season 10 renewal of recent transplant RuPaul’s Drag Race for premiere in March 2018, five new series, including a project starring Ricky Martin and ‘90’s House, co-hosted by Lance Bass, and eleven […]
If you thought the inaugural season of Below Deck Mediterranean was full of drama, just wait until Season 2 premieres on Tuesday, May 2 at 9/8c. There’s something for everyone in this season’s supertease, which we highly recommend that you check out above. From the stunning sights of Croatia and beautiful bods, to hook-ups and […]
All good things come to an end. After six years of peeking behind the curtain of the lives of Tip and Tameka Harris, VH1 today has announced the sixth and final season of T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle. On April 17th, the famous couple and their adorable family will let us back in for […]
Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge season 4 finale is upon us Sunday (Jan. 29) at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The upcoming episode is unique in that it brings together past Skullbuster winners from past seasons. Not only will the winning veteran take home a win, they will also take home the largest prize of any season, […]
Endemol Shine-owned unscripted production company 51 Minds Entertainment has made several promotions — including two in the development department — and new hires. Head of development Chris Kinsella has been upped to SVP and Jessica Bofshever to VP of Development. In addition, Andrew Jacobson has been named Head of Branded Entertainment as the company is […]
Los Angeles – The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2015 were announced tonight during the 68th Annual DGA Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. In a historic win, Alejandro G. Iñárritu won the DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Revenant. Mr. […]
Siya has accomplished a feat that many others haven’t been so successful with: She’s an out and proud lesbian and also a respected rapper. These two things aren’t mutually exclusive for Siya, who returns to TV tonight when Oxygen premieres Season 2 of Sisterhood of Hip Hop. And while there are four other women MCs […]
Sometimes even platinum-selling rappers need help finding love. Witness VH1’s once-and-future celebreality contestant The Game (nee Jayceon Taylor), whose quest for the perfect woman will chronicled on the cable network’s new dating competition She’s Got Game. If the name Game sounds familiar to reality dilettantes, he was the focus for three seasons of VH1’s Marrying […]
NEW YORK – August 31, 2015 -Last Tuesday night’s season three premiere of Bravo Media’s “Below Deck” delivered 1.6 million total viewers, over 1 million P25-54 and 850,000 P18-49, according to Nielsen Live+3 data. This marked the highest-rated season premiere of the series among all key demos. The episode was up seven percent, 15 percent […]
We monitor the news to keep you updated on the release date of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge season 4. At the moment, CMT is yet to renew or cancel the series. If you want to get automatically notified of the show’s renewal, please, sign up for updates below. Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge is […]
With over a decade of experience at every level of some of reality television’s most exciting original programs, Christian Sarabia has long been a driving creative force behind one of unscripted TV’s most original and audacious production companies, 51 Minds Entertainment. In 2014, Sarabia was named President of the studio, which is a subsidiary of Endemol Shine North America. 51 Minds now has some of the hottest unscripted shows on cable TV, several franchises spawning spin-off series and a slew of new shows coming to multiple networks/platforms in the months ahead.
51 Minds’ Below Deck and Below Deck: Mediterranean on Bravo are two of the fastest-growing reality programs on any platform and the studio is behind two hit series with actor/rapper T.I., including T.I. & Tiny: Friends and Family Hustle on VH1 and The Grand Hustle on BET. Last year, 51 Minds launched popular new series Truck Night in America on History and its producing upcoming series Unspouse My House for HGTV, as well as original film Beats for Netflix with Global Road Entertainment.
Starting at the very bottom of a burgeoning medium, Sarabia paid his dues on the ground level of the “celebreality” explosion, assisting, coordinating, and finally producing a number of memorable VH1 hits that put reality on the map. After stints on The Surreal Life and Flavor of Love, Sarabia worked his way up as an assistant director, supervising producer and, finally, executive producer on such successful series as VH1’s For the Love of Ray J and CBS’ Same Name.
Solidifying his position as a seasoned showrunner, Sarabia shepherded future hits Marrying the Game and TI & Tiny: The Family Hustle from early development to landmark television mainstays. Having subsequently produced and sold hundreds of hours of reality programming to both cable and broadcast networks alike, Sarabia took the reins at reality mainstay 51 Minds five years ago with an eye towards further groundbreaking programming.
Williams first worked with 51 Minds as Executive Vice President and General Manager from 2009 to 2012. In the Interim, Williams served as Chief Operating Officer of Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley’s, DiGa Vision in New York City. Earlier in his career, Williams spent ten years at Viacom in various production roles including Senior Vice President of Production at MTV and later, Senior Vice President of Production for the Viacom Entertainment Group which includes Comedy Central, Spike TV and TV Land. Williams began his career as Managing Director of the Tony Award winning Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago.
Chris Kinsella joined 51 Minds in 2010, serving as the Director of Development until June of 2014. Prior to unscripted television he produced long and short-form independent films for the festival circuit and spent 4 years at RSA USA, working in commercials and music videos.
As the Senior Vice President of Development, Jessica Bofshever oversees development for the lifestyle and pop-culture focused networks. Having worked on both the network and production side, as well as a development executive and on-set producer, Bofshever brings a holistic vantage point to her role. Bofshever joined 51 Minds in 2014 as Director of Development before being upped to Vice President of Development. Prior to her tenure at 51 Minds, she served as the Director of Development for Good Clean Fun and previously worked as a freelance producer on such genre-defining series as The Bachelorette and Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Bofshever began her television career at MTV Networks, where she worked in talent, casting and series development.
Andrew Jacobson joined 51 minds in April as Director of Development after previously serving as the Director of Creative Development and Production for Electus. During his two year tenure with Electus, Andrew was tasked with overseeing the build out of Electus’ production infrastructure and responsible for developing NBC’s Get out Alive with Bear Grylls and ABC’s Bet on Your Baby with in partnership with Walmart and Proctor & Gamble. Andrew’s extensive experience developing branded and distinct content was built while he spent five years as a freelance producer with credits ranging from CBS’ Same Name, Lifetime’s Fairy Jobmother, and Gotti’s Way for VH1. Andrew got his start in television working as a set costumer.
Hanan Abdelaal joined 51 Minds in the Spring of 2016 as Director of Development. She began her television career at CBS in the On-Air Promotion department, and thereafter at Pilgrim Studios, where she worked in pre-production, post-production and production on shows such as: Dirty Jobs on Discovery, The Ultimate Fighter on Spike, and Top Shot on History. In 2010, she moved over to the Development side at Endemol Shine, 51 Minds parent company, where she helped develop and produce shows for ABC, FOX, FOX Syndication, AMC, VH1, E! and MTV. During her time at Endemol Shine, Hanan also worked as a Celebrity Talent Executive, packaging A-list talent for broadcast, cable and syndication for shows such as Superhuman and Bullseye on FOX and Page Six on FOX Syndication.
Zach joined 51 Minds as their Director of Production in January 2017. In his role, he spearheads day-to-day operations while overseeing production of 51 Minds’ slate. He has over a decade of experience working in Reality Television. Having worked on a variety of shows for ABC, NBC, FOX, MTV, Vh1, CMT, TLC and Netflix, Zach has worked in all aspects of Production. He thrives when the pressure is on and deadlines have to be met. Zach started working for 51 Minds five years ago on projects such as Whodunnit, Tiny Tonight, Redneck Island, Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge and I Love Kellie Pickler. He looks forward to the challenges that each individual production brings and seeing them through their completion. Zach’s ability to develop positive relationships with networks and merge the creative with strategic nuts and bolts of physical production make him an invaluable resource in today’s entertainment landscape.
In addition to traditional broadcast ratings success, 51 Minds’ programs also delve into digital and VOD platforms. The company’s digital content was and is a major driver for VH1.com, at one point making up over 85% of the site’s streams and two-thirds of VOD orders. Our mission is to support brands through digital platforms, improve the power of interactivity of the viewers, and consistently grow within the digital community. 51 Minds continues to develop applications of emerging technologies, and connect the space between technology and pop culture.
Have you ever dreamed of being on reality TV?
Do you think you have what it takes to be a stand out character on a hit TV show?
Well check out the links below to find out if we’re casting in your area!
51 Minds Entertainment
5200 Lankershim Blvd. Ste. 200
North Hollywood, CA 91601
818.643.8200