The idea: an AirBnB for the $230 billion a year TV and film production business
Early in 2018, Colby and Michael, both owners of independent production companies that specialized in non-scripted content, saw an opportunity: the business was quickly changing due to the quick growth of streaming and other technological innovations. But the way in which TV and film production came about was stuck in old, and very analog, patterns of doing business. What if we created a way for producers to get the resources they needed when they needed them. And what if owners of studios, edits, soundstages, writer's rooms, and much more had a way to easily monetize their own resources.
Meet The Team
Colby Gaines
Producer & Co-Founder of GreenlightGO
Colby Gaines is an executive producer and founder of Back Roads Entertainment, a New York and Austin-based content creator specializing in comedy and lifestyle programming.
Since establishing the company in 2011, Gaines has created, sold and produced over 30 series, specials and pilots including 50 Central (BET) starring music icon, actor and entrepreneur 50 Cent, Big Bad BBQ Brawl (Cooking), Joking Off (MTV), Lake Life (DIY) and Culinary Beats (Yahoo) among many more.
Previously, he was the co-founder and owner of Leftfield Pictures, a production company best known for juggernaut hits such as Pawn Stars (History), American Restoration (History) and the Oddities franchise (Discovery).
Michael Hirschorn
Producer & Co-Founder of GreenlightGO
Michael is the multi-Emmy Award-winning CEO of Ish Entertainment, a New York-based production company active in scripted, documentary, and reality TV. Hirschorn's most recent film, Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America's Elections, premiered on HBO. Gringo, about the tech millionaire John McAfee, premiered at Toronto before airing on Showtime. This Week at the Comedy Cellar recently aired on Comedy Central. He is a contributing editor to the Atlantic and a contributor to numerous publications, including New York Magazine and the New York Times. Hirschorn is a member of the Leadership Council for Oxfam.
Brian Meece
Partner / Board Member
Brian worked for Citi Ventures after leading the launch of RocketHub, a major crowdfunding platform that helped raise millions of dollars for media-makers and other creatives all over the world. The company was acquired in a deal valued at $15M in 2015 by a publicly traded company. He's been featured in the A&E documentary, The Startup Factor, produced by an Emmy Award winner.
John Sobocinski
Chief Sales Officer
John has led sales operations for some of the worlds largest outsourced broadcast solutions providers. His extensive expertise in client needs analysis, combined with his personal and consultative approach, has helped him seamlessly pair a myriad of production services to 1000's of hours of programing. Clients served include Netflix, Amazon, ABC, NBC, CBS, MTV, Funny or Die, Food Network, Paramount, ESPN, Discovery/Scripps, Nickelodeon, and A&E, among many others.
CJ Felux
Client & Production Manager
CJ began his career working for a large film sound stage campus in Austin, TX, supporting clients such as SXSW and Microsoft. He was previously at Back Roads Entertainment, an Austin-based production company specializing in comedy and lifestyle programming. In addition to leading his own content creation in commercials, music videos, and narrative shorts, CJ is an active art student studying Sequential Art.
Michael Boyarsky
Accounting Manager
Michael facilitates the day to day billing and customer service at GreenlightGO. With experience in film and television finance, Michael has worked as an assistant production accountant on shows for networks such as Comedy Central, HBO & BET.
Josh Sears
Design & Technical Lead
Owner and CCO of Papertelevision LLC., Josh has a passion for design and product development. In addition to aiding in the success of dozens of clients, Josh has conceptualized, launched, and sold multiple software-based products and businesses. Josh's work has been featured on TechCrunch, ABC News, The Today Show, Wired, Wolfgang Puck Restaurants, Random House Books, How Magazine, and Fortune Magazine. He currently offers his expertise as Design & Technical lead for GreenlightGO.
Adnan Jehan
Digital Marketing
Previously one of the first employees at fubo TV, Adnan currently supports the growth of GreenlightGO's client base, facilities, and new service vendors via various digital marketing channels, including Google and LinkedIN. He also optimizes the web-based platform for visibility for web-based search.
Advisory Board
Henry Shapiro
Advisory Board Member
With more than thirty years' experience in market research, data analytics, consumer and B2B media, M&A, and investment banking, Henry is advising private equity firms and their portfolio companies in the evaluation, execution, and management of investments in marketing and business services, primarily in media. He is board member and lead director of Endeavour Capital-backed Visual Data Media Services, a provider of media supply chain and localization services to the entertainment industry; a board member at Loaded (esports), backed by Coral Tree Partners; and board chair of Kohlberg & Company-backed • MarketCast, a research and data analytics firm serving the global entertainment industry. He ran MarketCast (CEO) for nearly twenty years of nearly uninterrupted growth, and through ownership by a corporate parent (Reed-Elsevier) and three successive private equity firms (Shamrock, RL, and Kohlberg).
Liz Elam
Advisory Board Member
Liz is the founder of the largest coworking/flex work conference in the world, GCUC, which spans the US to South America, China, Canada, UK, Latin America and Australia. She is a partner in the Deco Group, a coworking consultancy. Lis also founded link Coworking in Austin, Texas and expanded Link to 3 locations before sold Link selling to Common Desk in the spring of 2019. She is the first woman in the world to successful exit her brand in the coworking industry