Michael Mandt (born October 25, 1971) is an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon a ...

Early life

Born in Ohio, Mandt graduated from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state, state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the ...

, and moved north to

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, the ...

where he began his television career as a Production Assistant at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

working on SportsCenter and other studio shows.

Television and film

Michael worked as a producer for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and it ...

during the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

and his work earned an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

. In 2001, he and his brother Neil Mandt started Mandt Bros. Productions. That same year, they produced Reel Classics Uncut for ESPN. The following year, they produced ESPN's first

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

: ''

Beg, Borrow & Deal ''Beg, Borrow & Deal'' is a reality television show that aired on ESPN with a first season hosted by Rich Eisen in 2002 and a second season hosted by Summer Sanders in 2003. Premise The show, which was originally called "Beg, Borrow and B.S.", f ...

''. In 2003, the brothers created the show ''

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 weekly show in pr ...

'' starring popular sports radio host

Jim Rome James Phillip Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio host. His talk show, '' The Jim Rome Show'', is syndicated by CBS Sports Radio. Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, Rome hosts ''The Jim Rome Show'' o ...

. In 2004, they created the series ''My Crazy Life'' for

E! Entertainment Television E! (an initialism for Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable channel which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of NBCUnivers ...

and in 2007 they created ''

Destination Truth ''Destination Truth'' is an 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 ...

'' for the

Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

. Michael has also produced and or directed segments of the

ESPY An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

awards since 2005. Michael Mandt appeared in the film ''

Hijacking Hollywood Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''likej ...

''. More recently, he produced the

indie film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

Last Stop for Paul ''Last Stop for Paul'' is a 2006 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 Two buddies set out on a low-budget road t ...

'' in 2006. In January 2012, Neil and his brother sent shock waves through the sports and entertainment world when they entered into a partnership agreement with RUFF China, the organization in who holds a permit to put on MMA events as a legal sport in the country of China. Together with his brother, Neil is working with RUFF to establish the world's biggest MMA league in the world, based in China. In the Spring of 2012 Neil and his brother Michael saw a long term movie project finally pay off when

Jon Hamm Jonathan Daniel Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Don Draper in the period drama television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Televisio ...

, star of

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its ...

, attached himself to star in the movie The Million Dollar Arm. The feature film was based on the real-life story of two young men from India who were plucked from obscurity to be signed into the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball organization. The Mandt brothers found the story and were instrumental in putting the original deal together that led to the movie deal with Hamm and Disney. They are attached as Co-Producers on the film, along with Mark Ciardi, Gordon Grey and Joe Roth. As ESPN executive producer, Mandt said that

Caitlyn Jenner Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner; October 28, 1949) is an American media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee i ...

was given the 2015

Arthur Ashe Courage Award The Arthur Ashe Courage Award (sometimes called the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage or Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award) is presented as part of the ESPY Awards. It is named for the American tennis player Arthur Ashe. Although it is a ...

because "she has shown the courage to embrace a truth that had been hidden for years, and to embark on a journey that may not only give comfort to those facing similar circumstances, but can also help to educate people on the challenges that the transgender community faces."

Internet

In 2007, Neil and Michael launched FantasySportsGirl.com, a site which provides daily video content for

fantasy sports A fantasy sport (also known less commonly as rotisserie or roto) is a game, often played using the Internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. These teams compete bas ...

fans. The duo were also nominated for a

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

for their work on ''Last Stop for Paul''.

References

External links

* of Mandt Bros. Productions * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mandt, Michael 1971 births Living people American television producers Fordham University alumni