Craig Piligian | |
---|---|
Born | August 25, 1957 |
Occupation | Television Producer |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Craig Piligian (born August 25, 1957) is an Armenian American television producer, and the President and CEO of Pilgrim Films & Television. As an Executive Producer, he is best known for creating The Ultimate Fighter , American Chopper, and Dirty Jobs series for Discovery Channel. In 2001, he won an Emmy Award as co-executive producer of Survivor . [1]
In November 2003, Piligian began producing Dirty Jobs, a series on the Discovery channel that focused on blue-collar jobs. The show ran for eight years and aired over 170 episodes. [2] [3] The show ended in 2012. [2] [3]
In 2004, Piligian worked with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta to bring a reality show about mixed martial arts, called The Ultimate Fighter, to television. [4] The reality series followed sixteen fighters who lived in a house and competed for a UFC contract. [5]
In 2012, Piligian was ranked 18th on The Hollywood Reporter's "50 Most Powerful List". [6]
In 2015, Lionsgate purchased a major stake in Piligian's Pilgrim Studios for $200 million. [7] [8]
In March 2016, Piligian partnered with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to create The Runner , an original series about mobile devices streaming on go90. [9] [10] In 2018, Piligian worked with Roger Ross Williams to develop High on the Hog , a docuseries depicting African American history through the lens of food, based on Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. [11]
In April 2021, Piligian was named chair of Pilgrim Media Group and president.
He is married to Lucinda Dickey; they have two children, Joseph Michael (b. 1986) and Amanda Marie (b. 1989). [12] In 2016, Piligian purchased a historical ranch property in Kansas for $5.325 million. [13]
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is a Canadian-American entertainment company currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in Canada by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, and domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dirty Jobs is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The show, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television, premiered with three pilot episodes in November 2003. It returned as a series on July 26, 2005, running for eight seasons until September 12, 2012. The show's setting was refocused in Australia for the final season, called Dirty Jobs Down Under. A spinoff miniseries titled Dirty Jobs: Rowe'd Trip premiered on July 7, 2020. The original series returned on January 2, 2022.
Pilgrim Media Group is a television production company based in North Hollywood, California. It was founded in 1997 by Craig Piligian. It is best known for producing reality television shows for the Discovery Channel. In 2022 Pilgrim became a minority owner in the podcasting company Lionsgate Sound with Lions Gate Entertainment, which launched on October 19, 2022.
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