Lloyd Braun (born 1958) is an American media executive. He is the founder and CEO of

Whalerock Industries Whalerock Industries is an American media and technology company. Based in West Hollywood, Whalerock partners with public figures and brands to create, build and operate direct-to-consumer multi-media apps which integrate music, video, live stream ...

, a Los Angeles based media and technology company.

Early life and education

Braun was born in New York, the son of Merna and

David Braun David Braun (died January 28, 2013) was an American entertainment lawyer who was considered "one of the most powerful lawyers in the music industry during its heyday" by ''Variety''. He represented famous artists such as Bob Dylan, Neil Diamon ...

, a renowned music industry attorney who was

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's lawyer and was involved in the founding of

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

. He was raised in

New Hyde Park New Hyde Park is a village in the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the anchor community of the Greater New Hyde Park area. The population was 9,712 at the 2010 census. ...

. He earned a B.A. degree from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

in 1980, and received a J.D. degree from the University of California's

Hastings College of the Law The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a Public university, public Law school in the United States, law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the ...

in 1983.

Career

Braun began his career as an entertainment attorney. His clients included

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

and

David Chase David Henry Chase (born August 22, 1945) is an American filmmaker. He wrote and produced the HBO drama ''The Sopranos'' which aired for six seasons between 1999 and 2007. Chase has also produced and written for such shows as ''The Rockford Files ...

. The character

Lloyd Braun Lloyd Braun (born 1958) is an American media executive. He is the founder and CEO of Whalerock Industries, a Los Angeles based media and technology company. Early life and education Braun was born in New York, the son of Merna and David Braun ...

on the sitcom ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'', created by David, was named after him. In an interview between

and

, David said that a conversation he had with Braun about Braun's father served as a "jumping-off point" for the writing of his Broadway play '' Fish in the Dark''.

American Broadcasting Company

Braun's first major success came with producer

for their idea for the show ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

''. He went on to serve as the Chairman of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Entertainment Group from 2002 to 2004. Braun was forced out of his position at ABC shortly after greenlighting the $13 million

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

to the television show ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'', one of the most expensive in modern broadcasting. The script of ''Lost'' had been heavily criticized by

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...

and

Robert Iger Robert Allen Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American businessman who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. He previously served as the President of ABC Television between 1994 and 1995 and the President and C ...

, who were CEO and COO of ABC's parent

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

; nonetheless, Braun pushed on with filming the pilot episode in Hawaii saying "If we are pregnant enough, they won't shut us down". Braun's decision was vindicated, however, when the show went on to become a huge success. Braun and his partner, Susan Lyne, also greenlit other ABC shows that went on to great success in the years following his dismissal, including ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...

'', ''

Extreme Makeover Home Edition ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'' (''EM:HE''; sometimes informally referred to as ''Extreme Home Makeover'') is an American reality television series that aired from February 15, 2004 to January 13, 2012 on ABC. The series is a spin-off of '' ...

'', ''

Boston Legal ''Boston Legal'' is an American legal drama and comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004, t ...

'' and ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

''. These shows began an unprecedented turnaround for ABC.

Yahoo! Media Group and Whalerock Industries

In November 2004, Braun joined

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

to run Yahoo! Media Group, the company's content division. While at Yahoo!, Braun initiated and oversaw the development of the highly successful celebrity site OMG! Braun also developed the daily video show " The 9" and oversaw major redesigns of Yahoo!'s media sites. Braun resigned from Yahoo! in December 2006 to partner with

Gail Berman Gail Berman (born August 17, 1956) is an American producer and television executive. She is co-owner and founding partner of The Jackal Group, a production entity formed in partnership with Fox Networks Group. The Jackal Group develops and produ ...

to form the entertainment company BermanBraun. BermanBraun entered into a strategic alliance with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

to create television programming for which NBC would have a first look. In August 2010, BermanBraun announced a multiyear partnership with Starcom MediaVest to create new digital content and advertising solutions available "first" to SMG clients. SMG is part of Publicis Groupe, the world's third-largest communications group. Since 2007, BermanBraun has established itself in content production, with properties across three platforms: television, digital and film. In scripted television, BermanBraun is currently producing Alphas on the Syfy network. Also in production is the second season of the unscripted series Brad Meltzer's Decoded for History Channel and Unchained Reaction, to be produced with MythBusters stars Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage for Discovery Channel. BermanBraun is also launching two unscripted shows: Polyamory for Showtime and Junk Gypsies for

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...

later in 2012. In March 2012, BermanBraun purchased

Whiskey Media Whiskey Media was an American online media company founded independently by ''CNET'' co-founder Shelby Bonnie in 2008. It was the parent company of Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice, and the former parent company of ''Giant Bomb'' and Comic Vine. W ...

, acquiring the websites Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice. Tested was quickly redesigned and rebranded as

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...

Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born September 25, 1956) is an American special effects expert who is best known as the former co-host of the television series '' MythBusters'' alongside Adam Savage, where he became known for his distinctive beret and ...

and

Adam Savage Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality and producer, best known as the former co-host (with Jamie Hyneman) of the Discovery Channel televisi ...

's personal website. In February 2014, Braun became the sole owner of BermanBraun, renaming the company

Personal life

He and his wife Lauren (née Michelson) are members of

Kehillat Israel Kehillat Israel is a Reconstructionist congregation in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. They are one of two Reconstructionist synagogues in greater Los Angeles (the other being the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue). Their senior rabbi is Amy Bern ...

, a Reconstructionist congregation in

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. Pacific Palisades was formally founded in 1921 by a Methodist organization, and in the years that followed bec ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Lloyd 1958 births Living people American television executives 20th-century American Jews Vassar College alumni Members of the Vassar College Board of Trustees University of California, Hastings College of the Law alumni American Broadcasting Company executives Presidents of American Broadcasting Company Entertainment American Reconstructionist Jews 21st-century American Jews