Full Name Robert Friedman Occupation CEO | Nationality American | |
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Born March 24, 1956 (age 60) ( 1956-03-24 ) Known for Bungalow Media + Entertainment Similar Jon Kamen, Justin Wilkes, Joe Berlinger, Ronald Burkle, Bruce Sinofsky | ||
Robert Friedman (born March 24, 1956) is a businessman in the entertainment industry. He is the CEO of Bungalow Media + Entertainment, a private equity-backed entertainment and media company he founded in 2013. It develops, produces and distributes content across all platforms. Beginning his career as an account manager at Grey Advertising he then held roles at AOL Time Warner, New Line Cinema, Classic Media, and RadicalMedia. He has produced films including Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, and Under African Skies, for which he shared a Christopher Award.
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Early life
Friedman attended Vassar College, from which he received a BA in psychology in 1978. He subsequently earned an MBA degree from Columbia's Graduate School of Business in 1980. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Vassar College and sits on the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School. He was the speaker at the latter's 2009 commencement. Friedman also serves on the boards of the Mount Sinai Medical Center and AccuWeather, previously serving on the board of the Morgans Hotel Group.
Career
Friedman began his career in advertising as an Account Manager on P&G, at Grey Advertising. He was part of MTV Network's development team, working from 1981-1989 on MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, and on The Movie Channel. He was in charge of Consumer and Trade Marketing for MTV Networks, and Promotion and Licensing for MTV and VH1, overseeing marketing of its secondary businesses, such as Global Licensing and Home Entertainment.
AOL Time Warner and New Line Cinema
Friedman held a variety of positions at AOL Time Warner during 1991-2003. He held two roles at New Line Cinema for ten years, as Co-Chairman of Worldwide Theatrical Marketing, Licensing and Merchandising and as President of New Line Television, which he launched in 1991. He also served as CMO for Time Warner and President of AOL – Interactive Marketing, TV, and Ad Sales. At New Line Cinema, Friedman oversaw marketing campaigns for all New Line Cinema's feature films. As President of New Line TV, he handled development, production, acquisition and the global distribution of products to network, cable, and pay-per-view markets. Friedman managed licensing and merchandising activity, as well as new media for New Line's projects.
Harvey and Golden Brooks Entertainment
Friedman was President and a Managing Partner of Classic Media: Harvey & Golden Books Entertainment during 2003-2006, the family entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation as of 2012, and Comcast as of 2016.
@radical.media
Robert Friedman was President of Entertainment and Media at @radical.media-FremantleMedia for seven years, from 2006-2013. @radical.media, now RadicalMedia, is a media and entertainment company. Friedman executive produced films for the company, including Paul Simon's documentary film Under African Skies, which won the Christopher Award in 2013, and When We Were Beautiful, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. TV credits include Grey Goose's Iconoclasts and Nike's Battlegrounds campaigns; the pilot episode of the series Mad Men; Bravo's Ironic Iconic America; Britney: For the Record; and Oprah's Master Class on OWN, among others. @radical.media developed "driverTV", an HD video-on-demand channel, and THNKR, a YouTube channel. Under Friedman @radical.media sold a majority stake of the company to Fremantle in 2012.
Bungalow Media + Entertainment
Bungalow Media + Entertainment was founded by Friedman in 2013. Bungalow's partners include Horizon Media, Inc., an independent media purchasing company, Cisneros Group, a Latin media and entertainment company, and Loeb Partners, a private investment firm. The company represents properties including The New York Times, 60 Minutes and New York Magazine, manages writers, producers and directors such as Vince Gilligan and Bob Nelson through its Bungalow|Storied Media division, as well as manages intellectual property. Feature film The Confirmation, documentary film We the People: The Market Basket Effect, and the scripted comedy series Highston are among the projects produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment. Unscripted projects by Bungalow include Travel Channel's 36 Hours. Additionally, Bungalow has formed a partnership with Monumental Sports & Entertainment (owner of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards). Together with Scout Sports & Entertainment, Bungalow Media will "bring analytics and content sponsorship strategies" to the partnership, in a deal to sell naming rights for the Verizon Center.
Associations
Friedman serves on the Board of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the TV industry’s NATPE. Friedman served on the Morgans Hotel Group Board.