MICHAEL KOT - MANAGING DIRECTOR
Michael Kot heads Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company, producing smart, popular returnable series for world markets.
Saloon has produced several series since its 2013 startup including: Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust (HISTORY); the documentary 9/11 Kids (documentary Channel); the two-part investigative special Cold Valley (Discovery ID); the eight-part documentary series Hunting Nazi Treasure (HISTORY, More4, AHC); Life Below Zero: Canada (Cottage Life), based on the successful BBC observational series, and Canada’s Drag Race, the first-ever Canadian adaptation of RuPaul’s Drag Race, premiering in 2020 on Crave.
Saloon’s co-productions include The Witches of Salem (Travel Channel, T+E), Mummies Alive (HISTORY, Smithsonian, ZDF and UKTV) and six incredible seasons of See No Evil for Discovery ID.
Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer, a documentary series revealing how Bundy’s hatred of women collided with the culture wars and feminist movement of the 1970s, was produced by Saloon Media for Amazon Prime Video and premieres Jan. 31, 2020.
Before founding Saloon Media, Michael was Senior Vice-President Factual, Entertainment One Television (eOne), overseeing original factual programming for the company’s television group. Michael and his team created and produced many series and blue-chip one-offs including: Perfect Storms (HISTORY, UKTV), Brainwashed/Deadly Persuasions (HISTORY/Slice/Lifetime Canada and Discovery ID US), and D-Day to Victory/Last War Heroes with Impossible Pictures (HISTORY and Channel 4). Blue-chip documentaries included 28 Heroes, Storming Juno, The Great Escape: Secrets Revealed (with Wildfire Television for HISTORY and Channel 4), and The Great Martian War (with Impossible Pictures for HISTORY Canada and UK.) Prior to joining eOne, Michael was Vice-President Original Factual Content for Canwest channels including Global Television, HISTORY, Mystery, National Geographic Canada and IFC. He was also responsible for overseeing programming, acquisitions, and the general operations of BBC Canada.