Bio / Credits

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RK Productions was founded by Ricky Kirshner, one of the entertainment industry’s preeminent event producers. Combining over 30 years of production experience at ABC News, Radio City Music Hall, and producing shows for every major network, Ricky’s credits include many of the world’s most widely acclaimed and award-winning television specials, stadium spectaculars, conventions, galas, product launches, and corporate events.

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Kirshner has been a part of the Democratic National Convention team since 1992 and has been the Executive Producer for the last 4 Convention Cycles. This year, due to the Pandemic, he was asked to re-invent the format for the four-day event.  The reviews and feedback from this “Virtual” event   have been overwhelmingly Positive (see some samples below).

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After the success of the Convention, the Presidential Inaugural Committee for President Biden named Kirshner an Executive Producer of the Inaugural festivities.  In this role, he oversaw content and Talent ideas for the Swearing In as well as Producing the Virtual “Parade Across America”, the COVID memorial, and Celebrating America –Inauguration Night Special (which has been nominated for an EMMY as Best Variety Special). This mirrored his role in 2008 when Ricky was also asked to oversee all televised events celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama, including; The Neighborhood Ball, We Are One: Concert at Lincoln Memorial, and the Kids’ Inaugural: We Are the Future. Some of his other credits as Executive Producer include the Tony Awards (for which he earned his 9th Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program), the Super Bowl Pre-Game and Halftime shows – featuring artists such as Prince, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira and others (2007 – 2020) – The Kennedy Center Honors, The Boston Pops 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular, the NFL Opening Kickoff show, and The Emmy Awards. Ricky also served as the Senior Producer of ABC 2000 (ABC News’ Millennium coverage), which proved to be one of the most watched television events of all time. 

This year he was asked to re-invent the Democratic Convention during a Pandemic. The reviews and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive. 

 

Ricky Kirshner is a 10 time Emmy-award winning producer and a winner of both a Peabody and Edward R. Murrow Award. His shows consistently receive national acclaim. In 2020 he is nominated for 2 Emmys (out of a total of 5 in the category of Live Variety Special). Some examples include:

 

The 2020 Democratic National Convention:

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• “Longtime Tony Awards kingpin Ricky Kirshner would be a lock on another Emmy if they handed out Emmys for producing political conventions” - Deadline.

• “Producer Ricky Kirshner — created a thematically cohesive convention that managed to also entertain, while reinventing a shopworn political ritual” - Washington Post.

• “This convention is not just efficient. It’s award-worthy television” - Peter Marks, Washington Post.

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The 2020 Super Bowl Half Time Show:

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• “Superstar singers and dancers Shakira and Jennifer Lopez took the stage during halftime at Super Bowl LIV and absolutely stole the show. The two transformed the field into a concert and each brought their unique elements of dance and flavor to the performance” - CBS Sports

 

The 2016 Democratic National Convention:

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• “Hillary Clinton put on a better television show in Philadelphia than Donald J. Trump did in Cleveland… It’s Mrs. Clinton who had the more professionally produced show.” - The New York Times

• “This was an extraordinarily well-staged, well-crafted convention.” - CBS

• “On spectacle and imagery, the DNC in Philadelphia easily outclassed the RNC in Cleveland….But for skilled stagecraft and memorable imagery, the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, which wrapped up on Thursday evening, easily outclassed the Republican extravaganza in Cleveland.” - Fortune

• “As one who has worked conventions, this one was masterful from start to finish in its strategy, messaging and production.” - David Axelrod

• “The producing team. The heavy presence of musical acts, celebrity speeches, and Hollywood-produced film shorts at times resembled an award show… But the convention planners did a great job of avoiding cheesiness and maximizing the dramatic effect.” - From Variety’s Top 10 Moments of DNCC

• “It’s the little things that mean a lot, and for sheer presentation, the DNC was far more slick — and that matters. Regardless of what you think of either convention on a political basis, there’s no question that, as a piece of showmanship, the Democratic convention was miles ahead of the RNC gathering.” - Variety

 

The 2015 Super Bowl Halftime with Katy Perry:

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• “Katy Perry’s halftime performance at Super Bowl XLIX, hyped for months and anticipated by millions, did not disappoint. There were glowing orbs on the field, and of course, fireworks exploding around Perry as she delivered the self-empowerment anthem. It was a fittingly explosive ending to a fiery performance, one that serves as a career highlight for the pop superstar.” - Billboard.com

• “Katy Perry definitely made the most of her time on the NFL’s biggest stage, burning through a bright, booming Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show that more than made up for a sleepy affair on the field.”  - Rolling Stone

• “Between the lion, the flying star, the chessboards and Missy-Freaking-Elliott jacket change, Katy Perry’s performance was grander in scope than anything seen in recent Super Bowl halftime memory.”  - BleacherReport.com

 

The 2013 Super Bowl Halftime with Beyoncé:

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• “The pyrotechnics, the Busby-Berkeley light show, the clever video-replication of women in silhouette, rows of them blinking on and off in flashes of whoa-how’d-they-do-that–it all made for a feast of the unexpected.” -  Washington Post

• “The best part of the set, for my money, was the incredible stage beneath Beyoncé, which looked like a pair of faces from above and changed with the songs.” - SB NATION

• “It was so electrifying that the lights went out after the halftime show. It was a high-energy, super-charged performance…” - Forbes Magazine

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The 2012 Democratic National Convention:

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• “Best Convention I have ever been to.” - Cokie Roberts, ABC

• “Someone is in charge who knows what the f*#k he or she is doing.” - Bruce Handy, Vanity Fair

• “Elections aren’t decided by conventions, but the Democrats know how to produce a compelling — and on-message — night of TV. In short, on Day 1, Democrats proved they are better at producing a convention.” - NBC

• “The Democrats Killed. The first night of their convention was a great success.” - Peggy Noonan, WSJ

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Ricky’s extensive credits read like an encyclopedia of Variety television.

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