Meet Dave Goldberg | Producer of Unscripted Television, Stand Up Comedy and Whatever Else Comes to Mind

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave Goldberg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
As far back as I can remember, the television – or rather multiple televisions – were on in my house, in nearly every room, virtually every moment of every day. From Sesame Street to Davey and Goliath to Looney Tunes to 60 Minutes to The Love Boat (keep in mind I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s), there was hardly a moment where I was not inundated with the wisdom of Bugs Bunny, Mike Wallace or Captain Stubing. My father loved TV (his first job was working at NBC in the 1950’s) and must have put that bug into my young, impressionable head.

As much as I liked watching shows with him, I preferred writing short stories and making funny videos (pre YouTube) with my friends. But when it came time to apply to college, it never occurred to me to pursue one that focused on film, TV or any type of entertainment. I went on a tour of Skidmore College and after seeing a dude in a Grateful Dead t-shirt playing Frisbee on the campus green, I was sold. I took a few art classes and creative writing classes and was good, but not exceptional. When you go to an artistic school, you soon realize how friggin’ amazing other people can be.

Fortunately, I found my calling my sophomore year when I came across a flyer for a TV internship with a production company just a few miles away from the campus. It was founded by a former Skidmore student who produced a news magazine that aired on all of the NBC affiliates across New York State. It was pretty awesome! My fist shoot was interviewing an exotic dancer, next was busting crack houses with Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels in the South Bronx where we had a machine gun pointed at us. By the time I was 19, I was producing my own stories and my creative career was born. It was a far cry from the Love Boat – I wasn’t making scripted television – but I was right there at the beginning of the reality TV boom and having a lot of fun doing it.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
When I started Killer Bunny Entertainment – named after our pet rabbit Killer – I was fortunate to have already built solid relationships with buyers at networks including A&E, MTV, VH1, Discovery, Court TV and others. This was after spending 8 years as the Creative Director at a successful production company called CameraPlanet in New York City. So I already had a good sense of what it took to create a show, how to sell it and, most important, how to run it.

I also found a partner, Rob Cea; a brilliant best-selling writer and retired NYPD detective. He had an idea for a hot police shootout series called Under Fire that we sold to Court TV in just one meeting. It launched our company and our careers as the “true crime guys” and we were soon producing more shows for Court, mob shows for Discovery and pilots for many other networks.

But what we learned – quickly – was that shows (and networks) – come and go at the drop of hat and you must ALWAYS be developing new ideas, searching for new characters and meeting executives that play musical chairs every week! So once Court TV became TruTV and every executive at Discovery was fired, we found ourselves without any shows in production.

It was time to adapt. No longer could we simply be the “true crime guys”, we had to come up with some other loud, over-the-top shows. And that’s when the heavens opened up and we found ourselves at a Bikini Barbershop on the Jersey Shore. Once again, we found a buyer in seconds. Mark Cuban bought the show based off an absolutely hilarious and shocking sizzle reel and we were in business with a great network that gave us a lot of creative freedom and truly loved the show we were making.

One lesson learned… Work with people you really like and people that respect what you do. Having a client like Mark was a gift. We were making a very funny show and we all had a great time doing it.

Then another shoe dropped. Like when Court TV became TruTV, HDNet was about to become AXS TV. No more over-the-top reality, Mark wanted live television. Once again, time to adapt. We told him we were experts at live TV and could produce a live-via-satellite stand up comedy show out of the legendary Gotham Comedy Club in New York City.

Within a few days, we had a deal and went on to produce six seasons of “Gotham Comedy Live.” From 2012 – 2017 we put on nearly 150 hours of comedy featuring huge stars and helped launch the careers of many comics you see today. Pete Davidson, Michael Che, Colin Jost and so many others made their TV debut on the show. Now we were known as “the comedy guys” by many network execs. And that’s the best thing that ever happened to me in the TV biz. There’s nothing I love more than producing stand up.

That being said, the passion project I have in production right now is a documentary about legendary country music star Whisperin’ Bill Anderson. He’s the most recorded singer/songwriter in country music history, the longest running member of the Grand Ole Opry and, hands down, the best storyteller I’ve ever met. At 87 he’s still performing multiple times a month at the Opry and is still writing and recording songs with major artists including Brad Paisley, Trisha Yearwood, ERNEST… We’ve shot amazing scenes and interviews with Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, The Oakridge Boys and so many others. Our goal is to have the film finished in time for this year’s Nashville Film Festival. You can see the sizzle here: https://vimeo.com/767518121/b859a985e0?ts

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Maybe I sound touristy, but one of my favorite spots is Jack’s BBQ on Broadway. That brisket kills every time. And I desperately need someone to point me toward an amazing Chinese restaurant. It’s the only thing about New York that I miss!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My true inspiration is my wife, Fiona Capuano. She’s a brilliant writer, poet, photographer and artist. I will never see the world as vividly, nor will I ever be able to express myself as creatively (i.e. my simple words here). So I over-compensate by trying to impress her with the shows I make and the comedians and musicians I can introduce her to. I also love the creative community that I’ve met in Nashville the past three years. The connections here are genuine and loving – there’s a passion for creating great content and a desire to help each other that will turn this town into a major entertainment hub.

Website: https://killer-bunny.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-goldberg-2a33402/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dave.goldberg.18

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KillerBunnyEnt