Michael Kaufman Named Vice President of Development and Production of Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. (March 5 - New York, NY) Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. (ARE), the multimedia company founded in 1994 by company CEO Al Roker, announced today that Michael Kaufman has been named Vice President of Development and Production. Kaufman will oversee day-to-day production and operations, develop talent, documentaries, original series and reality programming for the company. “I am very pleased that Michael is joining our team,” said CEO Al Roker. “He brings a unique combination of talent, energy and expertise that will drive our company’s growth as he develops exciting new projects. Stay tuned for much more from Al Roker Entertainment.” Prior to joining ARE, Kaufman was the Director of Development for Film Garden where he oversaw all aspects of development, including multi-platform programming, game and broadband properties. Prior to Film Garden he was the Director of Current Programming at ABC/DISNEY’S SOAPnet where he oversaw the Emmy-nominated Soap Talk featuring Lisa Rinna, the hit series They Started on Soaps, in addition to working on the ultimate wish-fulfillment series I Wanna Be A Soap Star and other programming. Before joining SOAPnet, Michael was Supervising Producer for Current Series and Specials at Fuse TV where he helped launch the network’s first reality series with the highly rated Ultimate Fuse Gig: The VJ Search series. He was a producer for ABC’s primetime hit Wife Swap as well as Bravo’s Emmy-winning Queer Eye. Other producing credits include Showtime’s political reality American Candidate, Trio’s AFI “Audience Award” winning Gay Republicans, Bravo’s docu-drama Showbiz Moms and Dads, and various series and pilots for Vh1, PAX/NBC, and Bravo. He is a graduate of Columbia University with an MFA in Film Producing/Writing, and received dual BA degrees in Film/Rhetoric and Italian Studies, cum laude, from U.C. Berkeley. Michael attended the Pietromilla Scuola di Cucina in Bologna, Italy, taught film history/theory at Columbia University and U.C. Berkeley, and was the recipient of the Peggy Guggenheim Fellowship in Venice Italy. hequills.org. Information on The Quills Literacy Foundation can be found at www.quillsliteracy.org. ### Close Window