Master Class: Producing Hit TV Shows with Vin Di Bona ’66 and Rob Katz

Legendary TV producer and Emerson College Trustee Emeritus Vin Di Bona, BS ’66, LHD ’94 joined acclaimed industry executive Rob Katz for an exclusive discussion at Emerson Los Angeles on March 6, where the duo previewed projects they are working on, shared career advice, and offered insights into the entertainment industry.

The discussion was part of the Emerson College Master Class Series, a new initiative that brings Emerson alums, Trustees, partners, and parents to share their knowledge and insights with students.

Di Bona, co-creator and executive producer of the long-running ABC series America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFV), and Katz, executive producer of Ghost Hunters, have been friends for 40 years. The duo has worked together on several shows, including AFV, and just completed a true-crime series set to air on Amazon. 

“We’ve worked so closely together, we constantly find ourselves finishing each other’s sentences,” said Di Bona. 

The duo kicked off the event by recounting how they broke into the industry. They shared stories from some of the shows they’ve worked on together and littered advice throughout the master class. 

“Don’t give up if this is what you want to do,” said Di Bona. “If you want to have the time of your life; if you want to do something that satisfies you every time you go to work, then stay in this room and keep doing what you’re doing.”

Di Bona and Katz treated the audience of students, alumni, and friends to a preview of the pilot of America’s Funniest People (AFP), a show they developed with ABC that’s set to air in companionship with AFV. 

The original iteration of AFP first aired in 1990 and ran for four years. The revival, which is set to debut this summer, is hosted by AFV host Alfonso Ribeiro and actress Alyson Hannigan. While AFV focuses on how happenstance becomes funny, AFP focuses on people intentionally trying to be funny through telling jokes, performing stunts, and more. 

In 1990, producers sent out 12 crews each week to gather content for the original AFP. Today, with social media, finding content is easier. AFP includes both professional performers and everyday people. Di Bona and Katz described the long process it took for the show to make it to air and discussed its development. 

Throughout the event, Di Bona and Katz took questions from the audience. Di Bona described four things that people need to have on their side to become a successful producer: you have to be prepared, have an idea with a good premise, have good execution, and luck.

“America’s Funniest Home Videos aired on Thanksgiving weekend in 1989. There were blizzards on the East Coast, torrential rains on the West Coast. It was Sunday night and everybody was at home watching. So, the weather was my good luck,” he said. 

Katz described how luck helped him launch Ghost Hunters. He had just completed work on a show called Southern Steel. Producers came to him and described a Syfy show they were working on that was a mess. Katz worked with editors to get the show in shape. 

“The network came in and they loved what they saw,” said Katz. “The producers came to me and said ‘You’re now the showrunner.'”

After the first season, the network picked up the show and wanted 22 episodes featuring more haunted sites. 

“I said, ‘Sure, there’s hundreds of haunted places,’” said Katz. “I didn’t know anything about paranormal, I just made it up. I left seven years later and did 140 episodes of the show.”

The message of not giving up is one that resonated with Sofia Servizio ’25, who’s hoping to be a writer/director one day.

“Loved the advice of getting into the industry, staying in LA, staying relevant, and never taking a no for an answer,” said Servizio. “Just keep trying.”

During the master class, Di Bona and Katz also previewed a sizzle reel of an Amazon true-crime series they worked on together, and described its long development, surviving the overturn of several executives at the streamer. It took so long to begin filming that they had to recast the show.

Di Bona and Katz ended the class answering more questions on pitching, changes in the industry, how to survive financially, and more.

“If you have a good idea… and you believe in it, you must take it to fruition,” said Di Bona. “You have to take that shot.”