Daniel Freed

As I have done for more than ten years, I identified this story from a magazine article and recognized its potential for an episode of American Greed. Using my skills as a booker, I set up exclusive interviews with the show's subject who was currently in prison as well as exclusives with one of his co-conspirators and the federal law enforcement official who led the investigation of the case. After conducting thorough research and collecting both public-source and private licensable photos and videos for the show, I booked interviews that would allow the show to remain on-budget and on-schedule. I travelled with a three-person crew during the pandemic to safely follow all protocols as I conducted interviews, directed verite-style b-roll and show-and-tell sequences, and obtained further archival materials from interviewees. While American Greed usually uses reenactments/recreations, this show dealt with a number of plane crashes conducted for insurance money. Knowing that recreating these sequences would be impossible with the show's budget during the pandemic, I obtained approval to use graphic-novel style drawings to illustrate approximately 15 sequences in the show with animations. After hiring an artist, I worked with him to create these compelling pictures in a manner that was true to the facts and also visually dynamic. Upon completion of field production, I wrote a script for the show and supervised the edit process while overseeing all licensing needs and communicating with attorneys to make sure the show met all legal approvals.

For many years, I have worked as a researcher/development producer for pre-production of upcoming seasons of CNBC's "American Greed." In this role, I selected and researched a variety of white-collar crime stories, utillizing my background in investigative reporting and production to find stories that will compellingly translate to television. Once stories were identified, I identified potential interviewees and used my many true-crime contacts to book interviews with law enforcement at all levels - from local police to high-ranking federal officials. I also booked interviews with the subjects of our show in prison as well as victims and topic experts. I identified and obtained potential licensable and public-source materials such as crime-scene photos and videos, wire recordings, and other pieces of audio, video, and photos that help turn true-crime stories into dynamic shows. I also worked with the show's supervising producer to make sure the potential cases I was developing could be shot in a workable manner that was on-schedule and on-budget while telling the best story possible in a safe manner during the coronavirus pandemic.

Oversaw producer. Gave notes on script and story development. Liaison between episode producer and NBC executives and legal department.

For many years, I have worked as a researcher/development producer for pre-production of upcoming seasons of CNBC's "American Greed." In this role, I selected and researched a variety of white-collar crime stories, utillizing my background in investigative reporting and production to find stories that will compellingly translate to television. Once stories were identified, I identified potential interviewees and used my many true-crime contacts to book interviews with law enforcement at all levels - from local police to high-ranking federal officials. I also booked interviews with the subjects of our show in prison as well as victims and topic experts. I identified and obtained potential licensable and public-source materials such as crime-scene photos and videos, wire recordings, and other pieces of audio, video, and photos that help turn true-crime stories into dynamic shows. I also worked with the show's supervising producer to make sure the potential cases I was developing could be shot in a workable manner that was on-schedule and on-budget.

Over the course of a single week, I researched and selected potential stories and wrote the entire pitch deck for this smart, stylized docuseries that used Adam McKay's storytelling style to to present an eight-part exploration of the global economy.

Writer

Writer

Writer, Videographer