Yahoo News Erik Osterholm And Michael Simkin Launch New Company Ultra Boom Media, Omar Mullick And Carrie Kaylor Also Join As Partners
EXCLUSIVE: Erik Osterholm, longtime Bourdain producer/director and Down To Earth co-creator Michael Simkin launch Ultra Boom Media. The two producers are joining forces to create Ultra Boom Media alongside Oscar/Emmy nominated filmmaker Omar Mullick and veteran media and creative exec Carrie Kaylor.
Osterholm previously served as director/producer on both iconic unscripted series, Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown and VICE’s Emmy-winning HBO series. As a former SVP of development at Zero Point Zero, Erik developed and produced a number of series, including The Business of Drugs, Emmy Nominated Connected with Latif Nasser for Netflix, and the CNN original series Nomad with Carlton McCoy.
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As the Co-creator and showrunner of Netflix’s Emmy award-winning documentary series Down to Earth with Zac Efron, Simkin also steered Zac Efron’s production company, Ninja’s Runnin Wild, producing scripted films like Extremely, Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile, That Awkward Moment and Dirty Grandpa with Robert DeNiro.
“The entertainment industry is changing faster than ever, and you can’t meet that with an old model— we have built a modern global studio here, assembling an incredibly unique team with diverse backgrounds who have individually performed in the highest arenas, helping build some of the most iconic series and films of the last decades—this unmatched level of experience, spans genres and productions from all seven continents. Ultra Boom Media is the combustion of our love of premium, character-driven storytelling, access, and knack for genre-busting,” Osterholm said.
Ultra Boom Media, a full-service production company that recently closed its first round of investments, is launching with a dynamic and diverse slate, including a new culinary competition series for a premium streaming service with the Culinary Institute of America and partners SpringHill Entertainment and Alfred Street Industries, an international renovation series for MAX, and a culinary travel series with CBC.
On the sports side, Ultra Boom is partnered with 30 West to produce a documentary series following athletes at the FIS Snowboard World Cup ahead of the 2026 Olympics. Additionally, they have partnered with Hidden Content and Executive Producer Robert Pattinson of Icki Eneo Arlo for a documentary series following America’s first Paralympic Blind soccer team. They are also currently producing a documentary series about the world’s top rodeo bareback bronc riders.
After years of working within the branded entertainment space, Ultra Boom also launches with a robust brand studio, including projects with MLB, Lexus, Eater, Sleep.com, REI, Earth Day, and Monogram, covering the gamut of branded entertainment and commercial production.
In the feature film and feature documentary space, Ultra Boom Media’s first short My Dead Dad, which premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February, will be adapted as a scripted project this year with screenwriter Stephany Folsom who is set to both write and make her directorial debut. Additionally, they will be producing a feature documentary on Mokhtar Alkhanshali’s incredible life as told in the award-winning book Monk of Mokha, a biopic on legendary chef Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese, as well as a feature film on National Geographic Explorer Jessica Cramp as she searches for the breeding ground of the elusive Oceanic Whitetip Shark.
Ultra Boom Media will serve as the parent entity behind a portfolio of esteemed brands, including Artifactual Media, which will continue to operate with a new focus on international unscripted content.
Ultra Boom Media is represented by UTA and Heller Law.
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