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Craig Piligian, Pilgrim Media Group founder and CEO and executive producer of Go90’s “The Runner,” has been named the first Next TV NY Innovator of the Year.
The award will be presented on Oct. 19 at the 4th Annual NYC Television and Video Week (Oct. 17-20) during the closing session of the Next TV Summit & Expo NYC.
Piligian was an early entrant in the reality TV game, earning an Emmy in 2001 as co-executive producer of the first season of CBS’ “Survivor.” He went on to found Pilgrim Media Group, best known for producing such reality TV hits as “American Chopper,” “Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe,” “Ghost Hunters” and “The Ultimate Fighter.” His current shows include TLC’s “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” and Discovery’s “Fast N’ Loud.”
This summer, Piligian teamed with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of Pearl Street Films and Marc Joubert and Perrin Chiles of Adaptive Studios to executive produce “The Runner,” a reality-competition series for Verizon’s Go90 mobile platform in which eight two-person teams of “chasers” pursued a “runner” across the U.S. over the course of 30 days.
Next TV is a conference, expo and networking event for members of the TV, media, entertainment and technology business community where digital leaders come together to share insights into the impact of new devices, delivery systems, business models and consumer expectations on the OTT landscape.
At the Next TV Summit & Expo NYC, Piligian will participate in a “case study” panel on “The Runner” with series host Matthew Patrick (a.k.a. MatPat), and Brian Angiolet, SVP of consumer products at Verizon.
Last year, Pigrim Media Group received a $200 million cash and stock buy-in from Lionsgate. The company’s other series include “My Fair Wedding with David Tutera,” “Wicked Tuna,” “Street Outlaws” and “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” the latter of which has earned two NAACP Image Awards
The North Hollywood, Ca.-based company has also produced original movies for Lifetime, including “Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial In Italy,” “Abducted: The Carlina White Story” and the crime thriller “Stalkers.” Its first scripted series, “Recovery Road,” aired earlier this year on the Freeform network.
