Neil Mandt
Encyclopedia
Early life
Neil Mandt was born in New York. At the age of 20 he was a winner of a College Emmy award and then subsequently landed a job as the Entertainment Reporter at WDIV TV4, the NBC affiliate in Detroit. He dropped out of college during his junior year and subsequently moved to LA..Television and film
At 24, Mandt moved to Los Angeles where he quickly landed the gig as the main Field Producer for ABC News at the O.J. Simpson criminal trial. In November 1995, with the trial completed Neil Mandt made the move to movies by writing, directing, producing and starring in feature film, Hijacking Hollywood,starring Henry ThomasHenry Thomas
Henry Jackson Thomas, Jr. is an American actor and musician. He has appeared in more than 40 films and is best known for his role as Elliott in the 1982 Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.-Early life:...
and Scott Thompson
Scott Thompson
Scott Thompson is a Canadian television actor and comedian, best known for his time as a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall.-Personal life:...
.
Neil Mandt spent the rest of the 90s directing two movies The Million Dollar Kid and Arthur's Quest before transitioning his way back into television. It was at the summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia where Neil was hired by NBC to work as a producer, that Neil won his first National Emmy Award. The following spring Neil partnered with his brother Michael Mandt
Michael Mandt
-Early life:Born in Ohio, Mandt graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, and moved north to Bristol, Connecticut where he began his television career as a Production Assistant at ESPN working on SportsCenter and other studio shows....
, a successful multi-Emmy award winner in his own right, and created Mandt Bros. Productions
Mandt Bros. Productions
Mandt Bros. Productions is a Los Angeles-based production companyfounded by brothers Neil and Michael Mandt. The company is primarily known for producing the television programs Jim Rome Is Burning on ESPN/ESPN2 which is the longest running talk show on the network and is currently in its 7th...
. Within weeks of creating the company the two sold two different series to ESPN; Reel Classics Uncut and the network's first reality show Beg, Borrow & Deal
Beg, Borrow & Deal
Beg, Borrow & Deal was a reality television show that aired on ESPN with a first season in 2002 and a second season in 2003.-Premise:The show, which was originally called "Beg, Borrow and B.S.", featured two teams of four pitted against each other...
.
Along with his brother, Michael Mandt
Michael Mandt
-Early life:Born in Ohio, Mandt graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, and moved north to Bristol, Connecticut where he began his television career as a Production Assistant at ESPN working on SportsCenter and other studio shows....
, Neil continued to create and produce shows for a wide variety of networks. In 2003 they created the show "Jim Rome is Burning
Jim Rome is Burning
Jim Rome Is Burning, originally titled Rome Is Burning and often abbreviated as JRIB, is a sports conversation and opinion show hosted by Jim Rome. Debuting on May 6, 2003 as Rome Is Burning, it was originally a once a week show in primetime at 7:00 PM ET on Tuesday nights on ESPN...
" starring sports radio superstar Jim Rome
Jim Rome
Jim Rome is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications....
for ESPN, in 2004 they created the series "My Crazy Life" for E! Entertainment Television and in 2007 they created Destination Truth
Destination Truth
Destination Truth is a weekly American paranormal reality television series that premiered on June 6, 2007 on Syfy. Produced by Mandt Bros. Productions and Ping Pong Productions, the program follows paranormal researcher Josh Gates around the world to investigate claims of the supernatural, mainly...
for the Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
.
In 2006 Neil made his return to feature films when he wrote, directed, produced and starred in the indie flick, Last Stop for Paul
Last Stop for Paul
Last Stop for Paul is a 2006-2007 independent film by Neil Mandt. It chronicles the journey of two men to the Full Moon Party in Thailand. The film is notable in that there was no crew and no casting.-Plot:...
. It quickly became a dominant force on the festival circuit, winning awards at more than half of the 50 plus festivals it screened at in 2006 and 2007. Mandt created a separate internet version of the movie as a series of webisodes housed on the film's website www.laststopforpaul.com as well as Revver and Ifilm. Last Stop for Paul was released theatrically in North America on March 3 of 2008, making it the first internet web series ever to go from the web to the theaters.
In 2007 Neil produced and directed the web series Tim’s Dates, which went on to be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.
In 2009 Neil and his brother Michael created the television show Sports Jobs with Junior Seau for the Versus Network. 10 episodes of season one were produced and aired in 2009 and 2010, each following NFL great Seau performing a variety of behind the scenes sports jobs.
In 2010 Neil wrote, directed, produced and starred in a TV series for Showtime called Next Stop for Charlie, which was based on his feature film Last Stop for Paul and the character he played in that movie. Later that same year Neil pitched and sold the TV series Ice Brigade, a docu-soap about an ice sculpting company to the Food Network and also an all encompassing car show to Speed Channel. The Car Show, as it's called, stars Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla is an American radio personality, television host, comedian, and actor. He currently hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast on the ACE Broadcasting Network...
, Dan Neil
Dan Neil
Dan Neil is an automotive columnist for The Wall Street Journal and a former contributor to the Los Angeles Times, AutoWeek and Car and Driver. He is a panelist on The Car Show with Adam Carolla on Speed Channel, which debuted July 13, 2011.In 1999, Neil received the International Motor Press...
, Matt Farah and John Salley
John Salley
John Thomas "Spider" Salley is a retired American professional basketball player, actor and talk show host. He was the first player in NBA history to play on three different championship-winning franchises....
and premieres in the summer of 2011 on Speed.
In February of 2011 Neil sold a pilot to the Fuel Network that will star the BMX riders Zachary Alexander Yankush aka Catfish and Mike Escamilla aka Rooftop as they travel around the world joining the wildest clubs and organizations. The show received a 13 episode order and premieres in the Fall of 2011.