Colorado Media Newsroom
November 20th, 2014, 08:51 AM
From The Denver Post:
587
A Colorado production company has cornered the market on TV programming about Alaska. If you've seen an Alaskan fishing expedition or Kodiak brown bears on cable TV lately, it's probably thanks to Orion Entertainment. (http://www.orionentertainment.com/)"Building Off the Grid: Alaska" is Orion's next one-hour special, coming to DIY Dec. 7. The Littleton, CO, based production company specializes in outdoors/survival programming.
The company produces more programming set in Alaska than anyone, and they’ve capitalized on the survivalist movement in reality TV. Among their properties: “Living Big Sky” (HGTV), “Guiding Alaska” (Travel Channel) and “Kodiak” (Discovery). Two of their latest sales are “The Treehouse Guys” and “The Jim Belushi Project,” both to DIY.
Chris Dorsey, CEO and founding partner and an outdoorsman himself, oversees a staff of 150. He fishes with Tom Brokaw, Huey Lewis and Jim Belushi. In fact, Scripps-owned Great American Country cable network will feature Dorsey in its newest original series, “The Ultimate Sportsman’s Lodge Colorado,” premiering Nov. 25. Dorsey serves as host, welcoming “celebrity outdoors enthusiasts and personal friends” including Jimmy Kimmel, Jim Belushi, Tom Brokaw and Jeff Foxworthy.
This year they’ll deliver over 120 hours of original programming or 16 series to seven networks, including AMC, DIY, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild and Outdoor Channel.
How does Orion get around not being in New York or Los Angeles like most major TV industry players? The company positions itself as “the ultimate middle-America casting company,” finding what Dorsey calls “authentic characters” in the heartland and turning them into reality TV stars.
“There are two Americas when it comes to reality TV,” Dorsey said, “the Heartland and the Coasts. I credit reality TV with bringing them to each other.”
Only question is, who gets the worse stereotyping from reality TV? The plastic surgery victims of “Real Housewives” on the Coasts or the inarticulate and bearded backwoodsmen of “Duck Dynasty” in the swampland? (Orion isn’t responsible for either extreme.)
More... (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2014/11/20/orion-entertainment-colorados-monopoly-alaska/20335/)
587
A Colorado production company has cornered the market on TV programming about Alaska. If you've seen an Alaskan fishing expedition or Kodiak brown bears on cable TV lately, it's probably thanks to Orion Entertainment. (http://www.orionentertainment.com/)"Building Off the Grid: Alaska" is Orion's next one-hour special, coming to DIY Dec. 7. The Littleton, CO, based production company specializes in outdoors/survival programming.
The company produces more programming set in Alaska than anyone, and they’ve capitalized on the survivalist movement in reality TV. Among their properties: “Living Big Sky” (HGTV), “Guiding Alaska” (Travel Channel) and “Kodiak” (Discovery). Two of their latest sales are “The Treehouse Guys” and “The Jim Belushi Project,” both to DIY.
Chris Dorsey, CEO and founding partner and an outdoorsman himself, oversees a staff of 150. He fishes with Tom Brokaw, Huey Lewis and Jim Belushi. In fact, Scripps-owned Great American Country cable network will feature Dorsey in its newest original series, “The Ultimate Sportsman’s Lodge Colorado,” premiering Nov. 25. Dorsey serves as host, welcoming “celebrity outdoors enthusiasts and personal friends” including Jimmy Kimmel, Jim Belushi, Tom Brokaw and Jeff Foxworthy.
This year they’ll deliver over 120 hours of original programming or 16 series to seven networks, including AMC, DIY, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild and Outdoor Channel.
How does Orion get around not being in New York or Los Angeles like most major TV industry players? The company positions itself as “the ultimate middle-America casting company,” finding what Dorsey calls “authentic characters” in the heartland and turning them into reality TV stars.
“There are two Americas when it comes to reality TV,” Dorsey said, “the Heartland and the Coasts. I credit reality TV with bringing them to each other.”
Only question is, who gets the worse stereotyping from reality TV? The plastic surgery victims of “Real Housewives” on the Coasts or the inarticulate and bearded backwoodsmen of “Duck Dynasty” in the swampland? (Orion isn’t responsible for either extreme.)
More... (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2014/11/20/orion-entertainment-colorados-monopoly-alaska/20335/)