Thea Flaum made TV history by putting Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel together
Posted: January 11, 2019, 1:46PMThea Flaum began her career as a TV producer and is best known for creating Sneak Previews, the movie review show hosted by the late movie critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. When she pitched the idea to the now-iconic film critics, she said that Siskel asked why he should do the show. She told Start TV her answer, "I said to him that if we did this right, before it was finished, our series would become the most popular half-hour series with the highest ratings on public television. And it did."
A pioneering producer who sparked the biggest show for public television in history, Flaum said she's impressed by what other women producers are doing right now. She said, "They're doing really brilliant stuff."
In 1986, Flaum's daughter was injured in a diving accident. Currently, she is the President of the Hill Foundation, an organization she began with her husband that helps families facing spinal cord injuries. She was recently involved in creating a non-profit video series for people to view as they are recovering in hospitals and rehab centers; it’s called, Voices of Experience - Living with Spinal Cord Injury.
Watch Thea Flaum discuss the strengths of hiring female producers:
