Sam Sokolow is the President of EUE/Sokolow, a Los Angeles and New York based television production company that he founded with EUE/Screen Gems principals Jeff Cooney and Chris Cooney. At EUE/Sokolow, Sam oversees all aspects of television & film development and production, including script and format creation & the packaging of intellectual properties as well as full third party production services — every aspect of bringing television shows, limited series and films to market.
Currently, Sam is executive producing Genius, a scripted series for National Geographic Network. The first season of Genius is based on Walter Isaacson’s New York Times Bestseller Einstein and is being produced in partnership with OddLot Entertainment, Fox 21 Television and Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard directing the pilot episode.
Since opening their doors at the beginning of 2011, EUE/Sokolow has set up scripted and reality television projects at HBO, ABC, Nat Geo, NBCUniversal Television, TNT, Freeform, E!, LMN, HLN, OWN, & Travel Channel. EUE/Sokolow is currently packaging and shopping independently financed television sit-com presentations with Caryn Lucas (The Nanny), Blair Singer (Mysteries Of Laura) and Luke Greenfield (Let’s Be Cops) and developing their ever-growing slate of projects. EUE/Sokolow is currently in production on 23, a pilot for ABC Freeform, and recently saw their true crime special, The Real SVU, air on LMN.
From 2002-2009, Sam served as a founder and Co-CEO of SokoLobl Entertainment, an independent television production company based in Los Angeles. While at SokoLobl, Sam created and executive produced 10 original television series including Taildaters for MTV; Man vs. Vegas for CMT; Ballbreakers and Vegas Weddings Unveiled for GSN; Pay It Off for BET, and Deion and Pilar: Primetime Love for Oxygen. SokoLobl also executive produced the documentary film The Kentucky Kid for MTV; reality series Burned and Trick it Out for MTV and Ultimatum for Style Channel.
Previously, Sam co-wrote, produced and directed the award-winning independent feature film The Definite Maybe, starring Josh Lucas, Roy Scheider and Bob Balaban. In 1999, Sam became the first filmmaker to self-distribute his own feature film via the Internet, a groundbreaking initiative that landed him on Good Morning America and in Time Magazine.
In 2000, Sam served as Co-President of Homemade Entertainment, a venture capital backed television content website. In 1999, Sam worked in the marketing department of the NFL in New York, where he helped develop strategic marketing campaigns for the NFL brand. 1994 to 1997, Sam served as a television & radio commercial producer for Wells, Rich & Greene Advertising. He was an Associate Producer on Barbara Kopple’s Emmy Award-winning CBS movie Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson. From 1993-1994, Sam held a position as a staff reporter for the New York Daily News covering crime and community affairs for the Manhattan and Queens Metro section.
NatGeo Orders First-Ever Scripted Series With Ron Howard & Brian Grazer Attached | Variety | April 28, 2016
National Geographic Channel has officially jumped into the scripted game.
The cabler has given a straight-to-series order to “Genius,” an anthology series that will tell the fascinating stories of the world’s most brilliant innovators. The first installment of “Genius” will focus on Albert Einstein.
Ron Howard is attached to direct the first episode, and Brian Grazer will serve as an exec producer. Fox 21 Television Studios is producing with Howard and Grazer’s Imagine Television, OddLot Entertainment and EUE/Sokolow.
The premiere season centering around Einstein is based on Walter Isaacson’s book about the famed scientist, “Einstein: His Life and Universe.” Noah Pink will pen the television adaptation.
“’Genius’ is perfectly emblematic of our vision to create premium, distinctive and highly entertaining content that fits the National Geographic brand,” said National Geographic Channels CEO Courteney Monroe, who has recently expressed her desire to break NatGeo into the scripted space.
Pink will serve as an exec producer with Howard, Grazer, Francie Calfo, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane, Sam Sokolow and Jeff Cooney. Melissa Rucker and Anna Culp are co-exec producers. A showrunner is expected to be announced soon.
“We couldn’t be happier to be working with Imagine and OddLot to bring our spirit of creative adventure and passion for great storytelling to NatGeo as they embark on their first scripted series. And to have Ron direct the first episode is incredibly exciting,” commented Fox 21 Television Studios president Bert Salke. “’Genius’ is a franchise with infinite possibilities. We think this installment that tells the fascinating backstory of the man who articulated the theory of relativity is just the beginning of a long and successful partnership between our companies.”
Howard commented, “Having already worked with National Geographic on ‘Breakthrough’ and currently in production on ‘Mars’— our exciting unscripted and scripted hybrid series that tells of our journey to colonize Mars — I look forward to their support as we tell this ambitious but intimate and revealing human story behind Einstein’s scientific brilliance. I hope that his story, as well as those of other geniuses, will both entertain and inspire the next generation of Einsteins.”
“We have been patient in our search for the perfect partners to help bring Walter Isaacson’s incredible book on Einstein to life in a unique, thought-provoking and entertaining way,” OddLot’s Pritzker said. “After cultivating the project for many years, we are ecstatic that ‘Genius’ will be OddLot’s first foray into television and that this remarkable story will be realized with Ron Howard at the helm and with the support of our great partners at NatGeo, FOX 21 TVS, Imagine and EUE/Sokolow.”
While “Genius” is the first scripted series to be greenlit at NatGeo, the cable net is developing a slew of scripted projects from high-profile talent including Scott Rudin. In December, Monroe brought on exec Carolyn Bernstein to head scripted programming.
Production is slated to begin this summer in Prague with “Genius” eyeing a spring 2017 premiere. The series will debut in 171 countries and in 45 languages.