(310) 998 - 3366

About Us

Blaze Television

Blaze Television is based in Los Angeles and produces music, entertainment and factual programming for a variety of customers. In its 8 year history the company has produced 1, 200 hours of programming for DIRECTV, BBC, ITV Channel 4 (UK), Nickelodeon, and broadcasters in Italy, China, Japan, Australia, and Germany.

Blaze was originally founded in the UK in August 1999 and was headed then, as now, by veteran producer/director/writer Conor McAnally. The company’s first show was the multi award winning package of SM:TV Live and CD:UK for ITV. SM:TV went live to air weekly without hiatus for over five years and CD:UK was live to air for almost 8 years. The shows won a total of 22 major awards in the UK including 5 British Academy awards and 4 from the Royal Television Society.

In 2005 Blaze opened a Los Angeles office and began pre-production of an American version of its CD:UK show for DIRECTV(www.directv.com). CD USA began airing in January 2006 and Blaze moved its primary operation to the United States in the middle of that year.

2007 saw the development of a range of new programming with SXSW Live from Austin Texas (24 hours of concerts); Country Concert from Hickory Hills (10 hours) and Legendary Albums Live.

Rock & A Hard Place, created by Conor McAnally and hosted by Meat Loaf was the company’s first American game show. The show features rock bands competing head to head to win money for their favourite charities in a music and general knowledge quiz format. The first season of the show taped in 2007 and premiered in January 2008.

The company is represented world wide by The William Morris Agency.

Kyell Thomas
Office of John Ferriter
William Morris Agency, LLC
One William Morris Place
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
t. 310.859.4290
f. 310.248.5590

2008 has seen Blaze receive repeat orders for all of its DIRECTV shows – SXSW Live, Country Concert at Hickory Hills, Legendary Albums Live and Rock & A Hard Place.

Blaze has a very active development slate and appointed Tom Grasty as Executive in Charge of Development at the beginning of 2008. Projects are under consideration at a variety of broadcasters in the USA.

Live to air television, live music television, and big events are major areas of expertise. The company is a highly effective producer financially and is dedicated to achieving excellence at reasonable cost.

The company is staffed by highly dedicated and motivated people who bring more than expertise, more than experience, more than excitement to the projects they work on – they bring their passion and pride.

Blaze believes that making programmes is a privilege and that people enter this industry because they love it. So its philosophy is to create an environment in which people can deliver the best work they care capable of, for the benefit of the audience.

Conor McAnally

Writer / Producer / Director

tel: (310) 998 3366

Conor McAnally is a television professional with almost 30 years of experience in entertainment and current affairs, along with comedy, children’s and music programming. Irish born, he grew up in a theatrical family where he started as a reporter and special correspondent. He set up Ireland’s first major independent TV production company in the early 80’s. Conor moved to London seven years later and shortly after, created programming that reshaped UK Saturday morning television and simultaneously reversed the BBC’s long dominance in favour of ITV. A 5-time British Academy Award winning producer and director, he currently heads Blaze TV out of Los Angeles.

FOR DIRECTV

Rock And A Hard Place (2 Seasons)
22 episode game show: Hosted by Meat Loaf, featuring teams including: Eddie Money, 38 Special, The Pointer Sisters, Warrant, ELO members, Lonestar, Grandmaster Flash, Sheila E., Berlin, Jeffrey Osborne, Tony Orlando, Everclear, Starship, Sisqo, Jimmy Van Zant, Ray Parker Jr, Sha Na Na, Quiet Riot, Air Supply, Color Me Badd, War, Bananarama, Right Said Fred, Bay City Rollers, Leif Garrett, Lisa Lis and Cult Jam, Da Brat, Toto and A Flock of Seagulls and more.
Country Concert
20 hours of programming surrounding the long running Country Concert out of Hickory Hill Lakes, OH. Performances include those from Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Adkins, Gary Allan, Sawyer Brown and more. Legendary Albums Live – 90 minute special, Heart plays their legendary album, Dreamboat Annie live for the first time, with interviews and footage from their musical history, past and present, from the historic Orpheum Theatre in Downtown LA.
SXSW Live
48 hours of live-to-air music from SXSW in Austin, TX. HD and 5.1. Artists – Bowling for Soup, Buzzcocks, Rachel Fuller and Pete Townshend, The Automatic Automatic, Polyphonic Spree, Rickie Lee Jones, The Bravery, Razorlight, Pam Tillis, Lee “Scratch” Perry, The Watson Twins, Ozomatli and more…
New Years Eve
4 ½ hours of live-to-air music from Fremont Street in Las Vegas. HD and 5.1. Artists included Chicago, All-American Rejects, Smash Mouth, Rock Star Supernova, OK Go and Five for Fighting.
CD USA
52 hours of live Billboard top 40 music. HD and 5.1. 300 artists including Korn, Kelly Clarkson, Busta Rhymes, Yellowcard, Brian McKnight, Rob Zombie, RBD, The Panic Channel, Ziggy Marley and The Pussycat Dolls.

CHANNEL 4 UK

H Side Story
8 * Reality shows following former pop star as he goes back to the Royal Academy of Music to study musical theatre.
H Side Story – Lost in New York
2 hour follow up special as pop star studies at Stella Adler School in New York.
Headliners
6 hours of secret gigs featuring Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Oasis, Foo Fighters, Destiny’s Child, etc.
Napster Live
10 taped music specials with new talent.
Ant & Dec Unzipped
Late night comedy entertainment series.

FOR BBC UK

RECOVERED
12 hours of taped music. Artists performed their own material and covered songs from artists that inspired them musically. 72 artists including The Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Stereophonics, Garbage, Flaming Lips, Travis, Wyclef Jean, Muse and Jamiroquai.
Road Trippin
Series of celeb youth travel shows hosted by Cat Deeley and Edith Bowman.
The Ant & Dec Show
Series of taped comedy entertainment.

FOR ITV UK

CD:UK
400 hours of live-to-air Top 40 music featuring 2,500 artists including Madonna, U2, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beyonce, Christina Aquilera, J Lo, Puff Daddy, etc. Hosted by Cat Deeley, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
SMTV Live
600 hours of live-to-air comedy entertainment for teens.
Party in the Park
10 hours live-to-air coverage of the pop festival featuring 32 acts.
ITV presents MTV European Music Awards
4 hours of compressed material from the award show rebroadcast within 2 hours of the show.
Brian’s Boyfriends
Big Brother winner and former trolley dolly Brian Dowling does make overs on problem boyfriends. Season of 13 episodes.
CD:UK Hotshots
300 half hour late night video shows featuring new releases.

NICKELODEON UK

Control Freaks
5 x 2-hour live entertainment interactive comedy variety show.
Too Many Cooks
½ hour sitcom pilot.

RTE – IRELAND

Non Stop Pop
21-hours live-to-air top 40 music shows. 128 artists.
MT USA
200 hours of Music Video Programming shot in New York and packaged in Ireland.

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

CD Live Italy
CD Live Croatia
CD Live Germany
CD Live Australia
SNTV Australia

Bart Peters

Executive In Charge of Production/Producer

tel: (310) 998 3366

Rock And A Hard Place
Rock & Roll game show hosted by Meatloaf; a true battle of the bands as teams play for charity and compete in rock and general trivia. Artists include: The Pussycat Dolls, Eddie Money, 38 Special, The Pointer Sisters, Warrant, Lonestar, Grandmaster Flash, Sheila E., Berlin, and more.
SXSW Live 2007 - 2008
Broadcasting for three days from the live music capital of the world in Austin, Texas, at the legendary South By Southwest Music Festival. 2008 artists included: Sia, The Ting Tings, Daryl Hall, Hanson, Liam Finn, Martha Wainwright, Tift Merritt, Daniel Lanois and more. 2007 artists included: Rachel Fuller and Pete Townshend, The Polyphonic Spree, Rickie Lee Jones, The Bravery, Razorlight and more.
Country Concert 2007 - 2008
Presenting 8 hours of live country music from Hickory Hills Lake in Ohio. 2007 artists included: Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Adkins, Gary Allan, Sawyer Brown and more.
Legendary Albums Live
Spotlighting legendary bands performing their legendary albums, live in their entirety; complete with retrospective interviews, encore performances, and more. 2007: Heart performing “Dreamboat Annie” at the historic Orpheum Theatre in Downtown LA.
CDUSA
52 episodes over 52 weeks, featuring more than 300 artists performing their biggest hits live. Artists included: Korn, Goo Goo Dolls, Kelly Clarkson, Busta Rhymes, Yellowcard, Brian McKnight, Rob Zombie, RBD, Ziggy Marley and The Pussycat Dolls.
Writer’s Guild Awards 2007
The 2007 WGAW Awards show, live from Century City, hosted by award-winning writer and actor Robert Wuhl, and featuring presenters JJ Abrams, Marc Cherry, Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon, and special presenter Morgan Freeman.
New Years Eve 2006
Over four hours live from Las Vegas with Chicago, All-American Rejects, Smash Mouth, Rock Star Supernova, OK Go and Five for Fighting.
Other Production Credits:
Tommy Hilfiger’s Race to Erase MS, The Grammy Awards, The Academy Awards, So You Think You Can Dance, The Screen Actors Guild Awards, Jay-Z Live In Concert, Elton John: One Night Only, The BET Awards, Josh Groban PBS, Tom Petty Live, Faith Hill Thanksgiving Special NBC, Sheryl Crow Live in Concert, The Latin Grammy Awards, The Blockbuster Awards, Miss Universe Pageant, Sports Illustrated Night of Champions, Let’s Make a Deal, VH1 My Music Awards, Democratic National Convention, Women Rock: Girls with Guitars, and Christina Aguilera: My Reflection.