Michael Holstein

Michael Holstein began his career writing on HBO’s The Wire and marketing blockbuster films including The Rock and Independence Day. After earning his law degree, Michael went on to produce shows and serve as VP for Business Affairs for WETA-TV in Washington, DC, one of the nation’s largest PBS producers. While there, he created and worked on hundreds of shows, including In Performance at the White House, The PBS NewsHour, Finding Your Roots, The Mark Twain Prize, Made in Spain (with Jose Andres) and the documentaries of Ken Burns. He also launched and managed transformative initiatives including the company’s first foray into strictly digital content. Concurrent with his work at Mesmeric Media, Michael also serves as President and Chief Content Officer for The Content Farm, developing, curating, directing and producing award-winning content for cable, digital, linear TV and social media platforms, and placing shows on networks and platforms including NBC, Bravo, Ovation, Amazon Prime Video, PBS, and the Travel Channel. Among many honors, his 2017 series Live at 9:30 was shortlisted for a Producer’s Guild Award; he received the Mayor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Media Arts in 2019 (the highest honor Washington DC bestows on media producers); and his 2020 film Soccer in the City was selected for numerous festivals and won awards including Best Video from the United Soccer Coaches Conference. He’s served as Creator and Executive Producer of several series’ including Trabant Trek, Africa Trek, A Chance to Dance, and more. While under an overall deal with Critical Content, he created Slip and Slide Island for NBC and placed several shows in development across networks, genres, and platforms. Michael has won multiple Emmy, Davey, Telly, W3, and other awards and is the only three-time winner of the Real Screen Summit Showdown Pitch Contest. He is a regularly featured lecturer at Georgetown University, American University, and The University of Miami (where he was communications major) and was an adjunct professor at UCLA, teaching The Business of Entertainment at UCLA for several years. Michael is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America, the Grammys, and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.