#42 Jerry Kolber Talks Science

Jerry Kolber is the co-creator and Showrunner of National
Geographic’s #1 series, BRAIN GAMES, for which he received a
Prime Time Emmy Nomination. Kolber and Atomic are a frequent
collaborator with icon Pharrell Williams, having created and
producer BRAINCHILD (Netflix) with Pharrell, as well as two
upcoming documentaries.


Kolber is the co-creator and host of the world’s most
popular 3x weekly kids educational podcast Who Smarted?, which
had three million downloads in its first year.


Kolber’s other creator and Showrunner credits include
Inked (A&E), Confessions of a Matchmaker (A&E), GE in the
Wild (with Mythbusters’ Adam Savage), and the space documentary
14 Minutes from Earth (Netflix).


Kolber grew up in the swamp in South Florida. He was an
avid cyclist, theater kid, and nationally ranked Lincoln-Douglas
debater.


Kolber didn’t know regular people could make movies until
he met a group of regular people at NYU who were studying to make
movies, where he was studying theater production and design.
 Kolber’s first job was as Business Manager of the legendary
Jean Cocteau Repertory Theater on the Bowery.


Kolber followed his time at the Cocteau Rep with a summer
in the immediately- post-Communist Czech Republic, attempting to
produce theater in circumstances better suited to producing a
nervous breakdown. Upon his return to the states, Kolber began
working in the stage theatrical departments at major movie
studios, including Universal and Disney.


Kolber began his career in television in the production
finance department at Dick Wolf’s Fox hit “New York Undercover”,
bridging the gap between finance and creative. He was the
production auditor on the first seasons of HBO’s Sex And The
City, and Bravo’s Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, ultimately
becoming line producer of more than fifty episodes of Queer Eye
while learning to put the hair product in from the back.


Kolber went on a wild ride in the rapidly expanding early
landscape of unscripted television, working for E!, fuse, Bravo,
Disney/ABC, National Geographic, Discovery ID, MTV, Animal
Planet, and multiple A&E series, as an in- demand Co-EP,
 showrunner, and writer of unscripted
entertainment.


He always knew that one day he would bring his love of
entertainment and disdain for outdated one-size-fits-all
education together and Brain Games provided the first of many
opportunities to show what was possible. Since 2010 Kolber, his
team at Atomic, and their amazing partners have been responsible
for some of the most successful and beloved edutainment
programming in the world.  Kolber is a long-time resident of
Manhattan’s Lower East Side.


Listen to Jerry's show whosmarted.com


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