Jon Kroll
Jon Kroll is an American Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer, Director, and Writer who has done significant work in film and both scripted and non-scripted television. He is notable for his prolific output, which also includes publishing, theme parks, radio and stage work.
Over the past two decades, Jon Kroll has directed three feature films and produced dozens of television programs, including “The Amazing Race,” for which he was honored with a 2004 Primetime Emmy Award. For four years, he was Executive Vice President, Original Programming, for New Line Television where he served as Executive Producer for both scripted and unscripted programming. After leaving, he formed entertainment production company Loveable Scoundrels, and is currently in production on shows for A&E, Lifetime, NatGeo Wild, YouTube and Animal Planet. In addition to his producing activities, he is an Adjunct Professor for USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Early life
Jon was raised on a commune in Northern California where there was no electricity or television. He attended San Francisco State University where he earned his Bachelor's in Film Production, and then the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television's Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program, where he received an MFA.
Personal
Jon lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife of more than twenty years, Karen Kroll.
Career
Work in Film
Earlier in his career, he directed three feature films, including Amanda and the Alien based on a short story by Robert Silverberg, which became Showtime's highest rated original film of 1995. He directed two other films, Menno’s Mind and The Clone, and developed Arthur C. Clarke’s short story Patent Pending into a feature script for Showtime, but it was not produced.
Work in Television
Kroll's most recent project is "American Grit," a 10-part competition show starring WWE phenom John Cena, for Fox. The series features four teams of four competitors vying for a cash prize of up to one million dollars. The competitors are all athletes who have never served in the military and the competition involves taking part in punishing physical and mental evolutions modeled on Navy SEAL and Army Ranger training exercises.
Kroll has also produced such shows as "Bullseye" for Fox, “The Week the Women Went” for the BBC and Lifetime, “Pit Bulls & Parolees” for Animal Planet, “Flipping Vegas” for A&E, "Big Brother" on CBS, High School Confidential on WE-TV, and From Star Wars to Star Wars on Fox. He also Co-Executive Produced The Amazing Race, for which he won a 2004 prime time Emmy Award. His most notable scripted show to date has been Blade: The Series, which was SPIKE TV's first original dramatic series. He is now currently working with FOX on a non-scripted reality show, Utopia.
Amish in the City
Kroll is most known for creating and Executive Producing "Amish in the City," a controversial show for UPN that caused 51 members of congress to send a letter of protest to the network. The show eventually aired to critical acclaim.
Other Work
In addition to his film credits and television credits, Kroll has been responsible for several live stage productions, radio programs for National Public Radio, and was the Supervising Show Director for Sanrio Harmonyland, a theme park in Japan. Jon is also an Adjunct Professor for USC's School of Cinematic Arts.
Credits
Television
- Movie Magic, 1994 (Writer/Producer)
- Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects, 1994 (Coordinating Producer)
- Hypernauts, 1996 (Writer/Director)
- From Star Wars to Star Wars, 1999 (Director/Writer/Executive Producer)
- Big Brother, 2001-2003 (Executive Producer)
- The Amazing Race, 2002-2003 (Co-Executive Producer)
- Amish in the City, 2004 (Creator/Executive Producer)
- Illeanarama, 2005 (Executive Producer)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street: Real Nightmares, 2005 (Creator/Executive Producer)
- Battle of the Wedding Singers, 2006 (Executive Producer)
- Confrontation, 2006 (Executive Producer)
- Blade: The Series, 2006 (Executive Producer)
- The Real Wedding Crashers, 2007 (Executive Producer)
- High School Confidential, 2008 (Executive Producer)
- Family Foreman, 2008 (Executive Producer)
- Hookers: Saved on the Strip, 2010 (Executive Producer)
- Flipping Vegas Season 1, 2011 (Executive Producer)
- Pit Bulls & Parolees, 2011 (Executive Producer)
- The Week the Women Went, 2011 (Executive Producer)
- Flipping Vegas Season 2, 2012 (Executive Producer)
- Big Baboon House, 2012 (Executive Producer)
- Flipping Vegas Season 3, 2013 (Executive Producer)
- 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty, 2013 (Executive Producer)
- Utopia USA, 2014 (Executive Producer)
Film
- The Clone, 1984 (Writer/Director)
- Amanda & the Alien, 1995 (Writer/Director)
- Menno’s Mind, 1997 (Director)
Web Series
- Stan Lee's Academy of Heroes, 2012 (Executive Producer)