Robert Friedman
Chief Executive Officer, Bungalow Media + Entertainment
Chairman's Award Recipient
Bungalow Media + Entertainment was founded by CEO Robert Friedman, a thirty-year veteran of the entertainment business where he developed, produced and distributed all forms of branded and experiential content across traditional and digital media platforms. Friedman has held an array of senior executive positions including President of RadicalMedia & Entertainment; President of AOL, Interactive Marketing, TV, & Ad Sales; Co-Chairman of New Line Cinema in charge of Worldwide Theatrical Marketing & Licensing and President of New Line Television, which he launched for the company. Friedman was an original member of the start-up team at MTV.
Most recently at Bungalow, Friedman has executive produced and is currently producing a wide array of unscripted & scripted TV series, feature films, docs and digital content: they include the Emmy Award winning “GIVE” on NBC, Fox’s “APB”, Seasons 1 & 2 of “Big Bad BBQ Brawl” on Cooking Channel, PBS’s “Landmarks Live in Concert”, NBC Sports World Series of Beach Volleyball, Travel Channel’s “36 Hours”, and Amazon’s 30-
minute comedy “Highston”. Docs and features include “The Panama Papers”, Showtime’s “Spring Broke”, the theatrical doc “We the People: The Market Basket Effect” and the “The Confirmation” starring Clive Owen. Friedman is also working on a variety of specials, digital series, branded and commercial initiatives.
Prior to Bungalow, from 2006 to 2013, Robert was President of RadicalMedia & Entertainment – a Fremantle Media Company - where he created and distributed TV, film, digital media, and branded content across multiple platforms. Friedman executive produced the recent Award winning docs including Paul Simon’s “Under African Skies” and “Bon Jovi: When We were Beautiful,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and Showtime. Numerous TV credits include Grey Goose’s “Iconoclasts,” Nike’s “Battlegrounds”, “Britney: For the Record” for MTV, and “Oprah Winfrey Presents Masterclass” for the OWN network, among others. In addition, @radical.media developed "driverTV," a first-of-its kind, hi-def video-on-demand channel and multi-platform media destination built to transform the way consumers shop for cars and THNKR, one of the original YouTube premium channels.
From 2003-2006, Friedman was President and a Managing Partner of Classic Media: Harvey & Golden Books Entertainment, the New York-based family entertainment company now owned by DreamWorks Animation and home to Underdog, Lassie, and Casper, as part of the company’s 3,000 title library. He helped develop the first multi-platform, multi-lingual kids’ network and branded website on NBC and Telemundo with Scholastic, ION, and NBC Universal.
From 1991-2003 he held a variety of key executive positions at AOL Time Warner. He spent a decade at New Line Cinema where he held the dual roles of Co-Chairman in charge of Worldwide Theatrical Marketing, Licensing and Merchandising and President of New Line Television, which he launched in 1991. He has also served as Chief Marketing Officer for Time Warner and President of AOL, Interactive Marketing, TV, & Ad Sales.
As Co-Chairman of New Line Cinema, Friedman oversaw the marketing and promotional campaigns for all of New Line Cinema's feature films. As President of New Line TV, he oversaw the development, production, acquisition and global distribution of film and TV product to network, cable, and pay-perview. In addition, Friedman managed the licensing and merchandising activity as well as new media for all of New Line’s projects. New Line Cinema’s accomplishments included a wide array of franchises including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Austin Powers and numerous series for broadcast and cable networks, including The Mask and Dumb and Dumber as part of a strategy to create worldwide entertainment and licensed properties for the company.
Friedman was a member of the original development team at MTV Networks, where for 8 years (1981- 1989) he worked on MTV, VH-1, Nickelodeon, and on the development of the pay TV subscription service, The Movie Channel. At MTV Networks, he was in charge of Consumer and Trade Marketing, Promotion and Licensing for MTV and VH1 where he oversaw the core services including the marketing of its ancillary businesses such as Global Licensing and Home Entertainment.
Friedman began his career in advertising where he was an Account Manager on P&G at Grey Advertising.
His industry honors include being named "Media Man of the Year" by ADWEEK, and named one of the top 100 marketers in the country by AdAge. Friedman serves on the Board of International Radio and Television Society (IRTS), The International Academy of TV Arts and Sciences and the TV industry’s NATPE association. He has been a member of Young Presidents' Organization (YPO/WPO) for over two decades.
Currently, Friedman serves on the boards of AccuWeather, Mount Sinai Health System, Columbia Graduate School of Business, NATPE, and The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Vassar College, and was the 2009 Commencement Speaker at the Business School commencement.
Friedman was one of the first men admitted to Vassar College where he received a B.A. in psychology in 1978. He earned his M.B.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in 1980.
Friedman is married to Dr. Elissa Gretz who also attended Vassar College and most recently headed the Benign Gynecology Division of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital. She is currently on the clinical staff at Mt. Sinai Hospital. They have two daughters who both attended Williams College: one of whom is a 3rd year resident at University of Pennsylvania Hospital and the second who has just finished her first year at Columbia Business School.