Berman in Sabi Sands, South Africa
Al Berman produces the impossible…and puts it on the air LIVE.
Starting with the very first LIVE reveal on the season finale of Survivor on CBS, to his most recent production of the epic National Geographic, world-wide live event, Earth Live, Berman has continued to push the envelope in live television broadcasting over a career that has resulted in some of the most highly rated and groundbreaking shows in television history while logging more than 6000 hours of live network television and receiving 4 Emmy awards.
Specials and series like Survivor, The Apprentice, The Biggest Loser, Rockstar:Inxs, The Contender, The Simple Life, The Marriage Ref, Heaven Sent, Live From Space and Earth Live are just some of the outstanding broadcasts that Berman has produced since he formed his eponymous production company in 2000, specializing in live and live-to-tape event broadcasting.
Ever evolving, innovative and curious, Berman is always looking for new ways to entertain and enthrall the television audience. Recently, Berman created and executive produced Earth Live a wildlife, world-wide live 2-hour television event for National Geographic featured 59 live cameras from 25 locations in 15 countries on 6 continents. Heaven Sent on the FOX network featured the world’s best skydiver Luke Aikins as he jumped from 5 miles up in the sky, without a parachute, and landed safely in a specially designed net. Live From Space featured a unique collaboration with NASA to produce an unprecedented 6 hours of live television from the International Space Station, 250 miles high in the atmosphere, and Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Working with London based Arrow Media the broadcast aired on National Geographic and on Channel 4 in the UK to spectacular reviews and a Prime Time Emmy award for Second Screen Experience. And he recently executive produced an NBC prime-time pilot starring Usher and Serena Williams.
Berman began his career in television news, culminating in 15 successful years in network news as the Executive Producer of such shows as CBS This Morning, The Early Show and America Tonight, and traveled the world with Dan Rather for the CBS Evening News. He ran special events coverage from Ground Zero on 9/11 and was Executive Producer of The Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Berman’s first challenge as an independent producer was to create a live broadcast for the final episode of the phenomenally successful hit show Survivor. As Executive Producer along with Mark Burnett, Berman created the “live reveal” and originated a template for the reunion shows/live finales that are ubiquitous on broadcast and cable television today. Nearly 60 million viewers watched as Richard Hatch won the first season of Survivor on CBS, 29 million viewers for the first season finale of The Apprentice on NBC, 11 millions viewers for The Biggest Loser on NBC and many millions of viewers for other finales including The Contender Live Finale from Caesar's Palace on NBC, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's The Simple Life on Fox, Gold Rush on Discovery and the upcoming The Challenge XXX: Dirty Thirty finale on MTV.
Berman has also turned his talents to producing series television, such as the groundbreaking and prescient live music competition CBS series, Rockstar:INXS, the comedic NBC/Jerry Seinfeld series The Marriage Ref, and FX cable stalwart, The Ultimate Fighter Live, and used his expertise to produce broadcast network specials such as America: A Tribute to Heroes, ABC’s Challenge America, America's Most Wanted Presents Judgment Night:DNA on FOX, NBC’s America’s Favorite Mom, NBC’s Guinness World Records Live Top 100, and Fox’s Stars in Danger to name a few.
Coming July 9, 2017
The biggest live show on the planet!
35 Locations - 85+ Cameras
AL BERMAN
One Night Event Will Take Viewers Live Around The Globe To Experience Nature In Action On All Seven Continents
(Washington, D.C. – March 15, 2016) National Geographic Channel (NGC) today announced the greenlight of a new one night, groundbreaking event, EARTH LIVE! (wt) to be produced by Bunim/Murray Productions in association with Berman Productions. EARTH LIVE! will be a fast-paced global journey like no other. Broadcasting live across all seven continents, using cutting edge camera technology, and controlled by the biggest stars in nature cinematography, in-studio hosts will throw to locations around the world for look-ins at wildlife activity as it happens. For more information, visit http://www.natgeotv.com or follow us on Twitter using @NGC_PR.
The show was announced by Courteney Monroe, Chief Executive Officer, National Geographic Global Networks during the network’s upfront presentation in the Onyx Room at The Park Hyatt in New York City.
“Earth Live! aims to be THE ultimate live broadcast from the natural world,” said Tim Pastore, president of original programming and production, NGC. “No one has ever attempted to do this on such a large scale and only National Geographic has the ability to do so. We’ve had a storied history of wowing audiences with tremendous visuals for nearly 128 years, and this project takes that wow factor to the next level.”
“For one night, viewers will be on the edge of their seats as we fling them around the world, literally going inside the lion’s den, up into the treetops, and below the ocean surface,” said Gil Goldschein, chairman and CEO of Bunim/Murray Productions. “We’re excited National Geographic Channel has embraced this incredibly ambitious global journey, and look forward to sharing the awe-inspiring natural world LIVE with audiences.”
“To bring these stunning visuals into homes, we will employ the latest and greatest in capture technology, including night vision cameras that shoot in full color, high definition views from outer space, and National Geographic’s own Crittercam,” said Al Berman of Berman Productions.
Viewers will be transported to feeding time on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, then travel to emperor penguins meeting their chicks for the first time, and everywhere in between.
EARTH LIVE! (wt) is produced by Bunim/Murray Productions, a Banijay Group Company, in association with Berman Productions, for National Geographic Channel. For Bunim Murray Productions, executive producers are Al Berman and Gil Goldschein. For National Geographic Channel, senior vice president, programming and development, is Alan Eyres and president, original programming and production, is Tim Pastore.
Heaven Sent
Skydiver Survives Jump From 25,000 Feet, and Without a Parachute
Skydiver Luke Aikins and Executive Producer Al Berman(left) being interviewed after Aikins successful jump from 25,000 feet without a parachute.
New York Times, August 1, 2016
If you think skydiving is scary, try doing it from twice the usual height and without a parachute. After two minutes of free-fall, you must position yourself to land on a net less than half the size of a football field, spread out 200 feet above the earth.
On Saturday, Luke Aikins took that challenge. He was the first person ever to attempt a skydive with neither a parachute nor a wingsuit — and, in a feat broadcast live on Fox, the first ever to complete one.
Mr. Aikins began his dive at an altitude of 25,000 feet, just 4,000 feet short of the summit of Mount Everest. Viewers watched him plummet, legs and arms spread, stomach down. Around 18,000 feet, he removed his oxygen mask and passed it to one of the three parachuted assistants diving with him. He aimed for the center of the net, guided by GPS and lights. Seconds before impact, he flipped onto his back and landed safely in the California desert.
He lay cocooned in the net for a few moments, hands over his face. Then he clambered out, into the arms of his wife, Monica, with whom he has a 4-year-old son.
“We did and cannot thank everyone enough for the support,” Mr. Aikins wrote on Facebook shortly after the jump. “My vision was always proper preparation and that if you train right you can make anything happen. Thank you!!!!”
The stunt, planned for two years, almost did not happen. At first, Mr. Aikins, 42, who has skydived 18,000 times since he was 12 years old, felt the idea was a bit much even for him.
“Like any normal, sane person, I said: ‘Thank you, but no thank you. I have a wife and a son, and I’ve got a life to live,’” he told People magazine. “Then, two weeks went by and I kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘If somebody said you had to do this, how could it be done?’”
Then, just two days ago, SAG-Aftra, the screen actors’ union, issued a “do not work” order barring its members from taking part in the production unless Mr. Aikins agreed to wear a parachute — something that, Mr. Aikins said in the live broadcast, would actually make the jump more dangerous by adding weight to his body, thus increasing the force of the impact.
As Mr. Aikins’s plane approached the start point of his dive, 25,000 feet above Simi Valley, Calif., he strapped on the parachute but told viewers he would not open it. At the last minute, the union dropped its objection, and Mr. Aikins removed the parachute before jumping from the plane.
Mr. Aikins’s publicist, Peter Moran, did not respond to an emailed request for an interview with his client on Saturday evening. But speaking to reporters at the scene, Mr. Aikins was euphoric.
“I’m almost levitating — it’s incredible, this thing that just happened,” he told reporters after climbing out of the net, according to E! Online. “The words I want to say, I can’t even get out of my mouth.”
The entire Fox broadcast of Stride Gum Presents Heaven Sent is available here:
About Al Berman
