Jeffrey Friedman, EVP, Studio Operations for RedBarre, is an exceptionally talented operations executive with more than 30 years of industry experience. Jeff has mastered almost every position in television production. He started as a PA and became a recognized editor, camera operator, engineer, producer, and eventually an Emmy nominated director. This background provides Jeff with the uncanny ability to orchestrate every step in production to deliver exceptional technical results.

Even as a freelancer, Jeff earned a stellar reputation as a consummate professional. Television networks worldwide contacted him for onsite consultations. He established lifelong relationships with many international and domestic broadcast and production company decision makers, which ultimately led to executive-level positions with major broadcast companies. Jeff has been a Vice President of production, network operations, technical operations and facilities for more than 10 years.

During one of his early career assignments, Jeff met CEO of RedBarre, Don Levy. They were coworkers at a production company: Jeff was a director and Don was an editor. The two came to develop a close personal and professional friendship, building a trust and collaboration that continues to this day.

Jeff has always lived by the adage, “Television is the illusion of perfection.” This mantra forms the core of his leadership/management acumen and ensures that clients and audiences are insulated from production and process issues. He is known for inspiring large union and non-union teams to produce outstanding productions. In fact, Jeff has never missed an airdate or show date in his entire working career.

In his role as EVP, Studio Operations at RedBarre, Jeff is dedicated to delivering the same expertise and operational excellence to RedBarre clients that he has provided to television networks. He brings a wealth of executive production knowledge, deep industry contacts, and motivational leadership.

MSG MEDIA, New York, NY

Vice President Technical Operations, Madison Square Garden Media

Vice President Broadcast Network Operations, Fuse TV

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

Budgets: Created and managed annual multi-million dollar budgets for MSG Studios and Fuse TV Network simultaneously.

Celebrity Hosted Shows: Assessed specifications, budgeted equipment, directed studio and crew, arranged for international concerts and music festivals, managed broadcast facility for NY Knicks and NY Rangers, monitored/led/guided technical efforts, and partnered with Network Operations Center (NOC) to launch music centric news programming. Successfully aired 20+ shows/3000+ episodes.

Cost Savings: Analyzed operations, identified overlapping services and opportunities for cost savings, and lowered production overhead; saved a minimum of 5% per annum.

Union Negotiations: Principal member of team negotiating union contracts with local unions; no grievances filed during entire tenure.

Edit Rooms: Designed and implemented technology for 10 state-of-the-art digital edit rooms for Fuse TV.

Rainbow Media Holdings, New York, NY

Vice President Broadcast Technical Operations

Drove operations for three live broadcast studios supporting AMC, WEtv, SundanceTV, Bravo, Fuse, IFC, Voom HD, and others

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

20-hour Live Production Day: Supervised 3 different live shows broadcasting 20 hours per day.

First Shoot in HD in London: Consulted on first HD of the Jules Holland show in London (2008).

Conversion to HD Equipment: Co-led team to convert from standard definition TV equipment to HD postproduction equipment within $5MM+ budget. Owned operational responsibility for all studio processes and procedures.

Captured/Negotiated Major Contracts: Negotiated multi-million dollar contract and brought in new talent, Don Imus via RFDTV.

NATIONAL VIDEO CENTER, New York, NY

Director / Engineer-In-Charge (EIC)

KEY HIGHLIGHT:

Emmy Nomination: Director of “B. Smith with Style” – (Production Company – Hearst), nominated for 2001 Daytime Emmy.