About the Producers

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Bob Kaminsky, of CoMedia, Inc., has spent more than 25 years in the entertainment industry, spanning television, music, radio and new media. As a producer, writer, and director of prime-time specials for network and cable television, his many shows have included The Montreal International Comedy Festival, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Spy Magazine's How to be Famous, People Magazine's 20th Birthday, NSync, Live at the New Orleans Superdome, Farm Aid and the Grammys. Kaminsky directed The President's Summit For America's Future, featuring former President Clinton, General Colin Powell and Oprah Winfrey and, as a former A&R director for A&M Records, produced the Grammy nominated Bette Midler album Mud Will Be Flung Tonight and Into Some Of Your Favorite Faces. As a producer of the King Biscuit Hour, he traveled worldwide recording major popular musical artists. Kaminsky attended NYU Film School and the Berklee School of Music and studied multimedia at UCLA. He serves as a mentor in the American Film Institute Enhanced Television workshop and is a partner in Riptide Music, maintaining offices and studios in Marina Del Ray, California.

Peter Kaminsky was managing editor of National Lampoon in the 1970s. He has written and produced for Jerry Seinfeld, Mary Tyler Moore, John Candy, Jane Curtin and Bob Newhart. Kaminsky is well known as a journalist and author. He contributes frequently to the "Outdoors" column and "Dining" section of The New York Times. Kaminsky is the author of The Elements of Taste and The Moon Pulled Up An Acre of Bass. He is currently writing Pig Perfect: Encounters With Some Remarkable Swine for Hyperion. His father wrote for Jackie Gleason. Kaminsky is a graduate of Princeton University. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Melinda, and daughters, Lucy and Lily.

Mark Krantz recently formed Mark Krantz Productions after serving as partner and executive vice president of The John Schreiber Group where he spearheaded creative development and execution of major television, film, theatrical and touring projects for the company including the President's Summit For America's Future, the Sony Legacy recording of George C. Wolfes' "Harlem Song" (which was created and produced by the company), Comedy Central's broadcasts of The Friars Club Roasts, the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremonies as well as musical celebrations of Carole King at Madison Square Garden and Carlos Santana at the Universal Amphitheater. Krantz is currently producing along with Whoopi Goldberg, The World Action Concert, a major gathering of musicians, comedians, actors and sports stars organized to help raise funds and awareness of the global Aids pandemic; a political comedy series with Richard Belzer for the Showtime network; a broadcast celebration of The Friars Club 100th anniversary as well as developing series and specials for VH1, Comedy Central and PBS. One of his most cherished experiences over the last six years of being involved with the Mark Twain Prize is the opportunity to develop and enjoy ongoing friendships with honorees Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Goldberg and Bob Newhart and their families. Krantz and his wife Sandy reside in South Salem, New York, with their three sons Andrew, Tommy and Luke.

WETA EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Dalton Delan has been executive vice president and chief programming officer of WETA Washington, D.C., the third largest producing station for PBS and the flagship public television station in the nation's capital, since December 1998. Coming to WETA with more than a dozen years of senior management experience in film, television and new media, Delan directs WETA's national and local production departments, creating documentary, performance, cultural, news and public affairs programming and related projects, including Internet and high-definition television productions. His responsibilities also include overseeing station relations for WETA's productions to the more than 340 PBS stations across the country. Prior to joining WETA, Delan was executive vice president of programming and creative director for Sundance Channel, where he helped launch the movie channel for independent films in a highly competitive media environment. There Delan also worked directly with network founder Robert Redford in developing the creative vision for the new entity. From 1992 to 1996, Delan was senior vice president for programming and production at the Travel Channel in Atlanta, where he headed the relaunch of the network, with a marked improvement in ratings during his tenure. From 1990 to 1992, he was director of program development at Lifetime Television in New York, prior to which he was the director of documentary programming at Home Box Office from 1986 to 1990. Delan was on the producing staff of the ABC News Closeup Documentary Unit in New York from 1979 to 1986, and he served as a writer/editor with Time-Life Books in the Washington, D.C. area from 1976 to 1979. Delan holds a bachelor's degree in English from Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1976. He and his wife have two boys and reside in the Washington, D.C. area.

David S. Thompson, vice president of cultural programming at WETA, is responsible for the creation, development and production of a wide variety of programming distributed for national broadcast by PBS. His projects include high-definition television art specials such as Van Gogh's Van Goghs, cultural and historical documentaries including the Emmy Award-winning documentary Divided Highways: The History of the Interstate Highway System, and performance programs such as In Performance at the White House and The Kennedy Center Presents. Thompson joined WETA in 1990 as resident arts adviser and became director of cultural programming in 1996. Since 1996 he has also been project director on WETA's co-productions with award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns. Thompson has collaborated with Burns on The West, Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, Frank Lloyd Wright, Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, JAZZ and Horatio's Drive.

Prior to joining WETA, Thompson was co-founder and executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning Children's Radio Theatre based in Washington, D.C., and distributed nationally by National Public Radio. From 1975-1980, Thompson worked in the public affairs department of PBS and has been a freelance journalist for a variety of newspapers. Thompson received a bachelor's degree in history from Lafayette College and a master's degree in communications from American University. He resides in Washington, D.C.