MEET THE TEAM

OWNER and Executive Producer

Matthew Ostrom is co-founder and executive producer at Magilla Entertainment, one of the unscripted industry’s biggest suppliers of reality and nonfiction content. Matt oversees all creative content for Magilla including development, current series, and impact strategy.

Prior to forming Magilla with Laura Palumbo Johnson in 2009, Ostrom was a VP at then-production company Original Media, where he developed and produced hit series like Swamp People, Dual Survivor and LA Ink.

Previously, Ostrom spent a decade creating, performing and producing comedy in the New York City underground comedy scene, also developing and producing on such shows such as HBO’s The Chris Rock Show, Comedy Central’s Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and ABC’s Wife Swap. Ostrom began his television career as an associate producer and co-host at Sound fX, a live music show that helped launch the FX Network.

OWNER and Executive Producer

Laura Palumbo Johnson is co-founder and executive producer at Magilla Entertainment, one of the unscripted industry’s biggest suppliers of reality and nonfiction television content. Laura oversees all financial and operational aspects of the business as well as production, facilities, and business strategy.

Johnson launched Magilla with partner Matthew Ostrom in 2009; she was previously focused on production management, operations and international sales at a TV start-up, where she supervised hundreds of episodes of television, including nine seasons of HGTV’s Don’t Sweat It, AMC’s Movie’s 101 and the creation of the Food Network mega-hit Chopped.

Johnson began her career in the New York City television world, working on various crews and serving as a studio production manager on live satellite media tours. She honed her craft in lifestyle and studio television on the Hearst syndicated hit B. Smith with Style. Johnson also serves on the executive committee and is a founding member of NPACT, the leading organization representing producers of unscripted content.

PRESIDENT

Jason Fox is president at Magilla Entertainment, one of the unscripted industry’s biggest suppliers of reality and nonfiction television content. With more than 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Jason helps to oversee development, brand creation, talent management and the implementation of the company’s new business strategy.

Prior to joining Magilla, Fox was an unscripted agent at CAA, based in New York. He began his career as a political reporter for New York 1 News before entering the mailroom at WME in 2002.

Fox graduated with honors from Rutgers University with a degree in both Journalism and Politics.

Head of Production Operations

Valerie Fisher Smaltini began her career as audio assistant at a post mixing house, learning all aspects of television operations. She spent 10 years at Food Network’s New York headquarters heading up production operations. After Food, she managed various projects for clients including DIY, Lidia Bastinach and PBS, and at indie production companies, New Animal Productions and Tapestry International, where she was part of the Emmy award winning team of Greatest Inventions with Bill Nye. She has served as adjunct faculty at Brookdale Community College, where she taught multi-camera production. Smaltini is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.

SVP, Development + Current Series

Hailing from Fargo, ND (with only a slight accent), NYC was a big change back when Josh met Matt and Laura as an intern on the TLC show Help Wanted over 15 years ago. After completing his Film / TV BA, Josh returned to NYC and began working with Laura at City Lights Television as Show PA on Marcus Samuelsson’s first TV project Inner Chef. Over the following years, Josh worked through each of the significant positions, eventually Directing and Producing 8 seasons of HGTV’s Don’t Sweat It and numerous projects with various companies like Notional, RDF Media, and Yahoo before coming on board, and reuniting with Matt and Laura at Magilla in development. Drawn to the relentless creativity, challenging odds, and ever-evolving landscape of development work, Abrahamson found his midwestern work ethic and upbringing advantageous in reaching new ground and breaking through wherever the job takes him. No matter where he finds himself day-to-day, Josh is constantly trying to find the stories that surround us, but at the very least he’s stockpiling a very odd collection of experiences and embraces that idea fully. Josh is a graduate of Montana State University.

EVP, Post Production

Sabine Kertscher has extensive experience in post-production management with a strong practical and technical background in both feature film and TV. In a career spanning over 16 years, she has worked with internationally renowned filmmakers and post-houses. At Mill Film London, Sabine landed her first job as a 2D vfx artist on Ridley Scott’s academy award-winning Black Hawk Down. She then went on to work as a 2D Compositor on blockbuster films including Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life (Jim Henson’s Creature Shop), Pierce Brosnan’s Evelyn and for directors such as Tim Burton and Bruce Beresford. Since moving to NYC in 2004, she has worked as a post-production supervisor and workflow consultant for many production companies. Sabine holds an MA in History of Art, Musicology and Philosophy.

VP, Current Series

Dominick has served as an Executive Producer or Producer on some of the biggest hits of the reality age, including Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta, Real Housewives of New York City, Don't Be Tardy and Blood Sweat & Heels, ABC's The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Wife Swap, VH1's The A-List: New York, and Style Network's Married Away and Whose Wedding is it Anyway. At Magilla, Dominick is a Vice President of Current Series and serves as Executive Producer on TLC's I Love a Mama's Boy, Long Island Medium and Rattled. He's also a comedy writer and performer.

VP, Current Series

With more than 10 years of experience in television, Kevin has worked as an executive producer, showrunner, producer and editor on a wide range of series and development projects. He got his start cutting shows for networks like MTV, VH1, History, TLC, Travel, HGTV, DIY, Cooking Channel and Lifetime. Kevin got out of the edit chair to seek new challenges as a series producer and showrunner before becoming Vice President of Television at The Weinstein Company. As VP he developed pilots and presentations for MTV, AMC, Spike, and Lifetime, and helped create the late night talk show Geeking Out for AMC. Since Joining Magilla as VP of Current Series, Kevin has overseen projects including The Cars That Made America and Road Hauks for History, along with Shiners on Shine and Distillation Restoration for Discovery.

VP, Current Series

With over 15 years of experience, Jennifer began her career as the personal assistant to NBC Today Show’s, Al Roker. She went on to produce hit shows and live events on networks such as Bravo, Lifetime, HGTV, Food Network, Animal Planet and MSNBC, to name a few. She joined the team at Magilla Entertainment in 2010, and has climbed the ladder producing, showrunning, and executive producing various pilots and hit series including, Beach/Lakefront Bargain Hunt and Beach/Lakefront Bargain Hunt Renovation. Jennifer holds a B.A. in Broadcasting and Mass Communications from SUNY Oswego.

VP, Development

Zoran joined Magilla with over 20 years experience in developing and producing numerous series, specials, live programs and pilots. He has developed shows for a variety of broadcasters from CBS to MTV, VH1, Bravo, Tru TV, and Animal Planet, and produced for such television icons as Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman. Zoran received a B.A in Communications with a minor in Film from Duquesne University in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.

VP, Casting + Talent Development

With over 15 years experience in television, Courtney Maglione has cast shows in production and development for a multitude of networks. She joined Magilla in 2011 as a development producer, aiding in the growth of their casting department. She began her career in production at MTV Networks working on shows such as Room Raiders, My Super Sweet 16 and Discover and Download. Early in her career she developed a niche for finding extraordinary talent and became the casting director for Total Request Live as well as many of the networks live events, specials, and promos. In addition to working in non-scripted television, Courtney has cast national commercial spots for companies such as Honda, Best Western and AAA as well as several independent films. Courtney graduated with honors from Rutgers University with a degree in Journalism.

VP, Production Operations

Jimmy joined Magilla in 2016 and has nearly 20 years of production experience, having managed programs for HGTV, Discovery, HBO, A&E, Food Network, MTV, VH1, and National Geographic. He has been a Head of Production at two other production companies, including supervising the Emmy Award-winning "Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis". Jimmy is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and an avid Mets fan.

Executive Producer

Cristin Cricco-Powell started her career 20 years ago in development at Comedy Central. From there she went on to produce or direct shows for Comedy Central, A&E, History, ABC, TLC, MTV, and Discovery Europe. She feels very lucky to have a job that introduces her to people and places she’d otherwise never see. She worked Carnival in Rio dressed as a human motorcycle on Insomniac with Dave Attell, directed the Gotti boys (and practiced her Italian apologies) in Italy on Growing Up Gotti, talked treasure with the Greatest Generation on American Pickers, and learned how to handle anything TV throws at her as Co-EP of ABC’s Wife Swap. She’s currently learning all about badass trucks as EP of Discovery’s Diesel Brothers, and she’s proud to have produced History’s Rise Up: The Movement That Changed America, a one-hour doc on the Civil Rights Movement. She has two small kids and a BFA in Screenwriting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

VP, IT + Facilities

Marc Palumbo has over 20 years of professional experience in the field of Information Technology, with a background on information security, systems administration, networking, and technical support. He has worked, consulted, and led various IT departments in a variety of industries, including advertising, software, hospitality, and health care, and, currently, with the television industry at Magilla Entertainment. His expertise lies in moving companies forward with the right use of technology to fit the company’s needs. He holds a B.S. in Management Information Systems from LeMoyne College and, in his spare time, writes music for the piano!

General Counsel

Mark has more than 20 years experience as an in‐house entertainment and intellectual property law attorney. As Magilla’s General Counsel, Mark is responsible for negotiating, drafting and reviewing a wide variety of agreements in connection with Magilla’s operations, production personnel, television series and related projects. In addition, Mark counsels and advises Magilla’s executives in connection with all facets of Magilla’s operations and corporate strategy. Prior to joining Magilla, Mark was the EVP of Legal and Business Affairs for City Lights TV, a New York based TV production company, where he handled the business and legal affairs for the company and its related TV and Film divisions. Before City Lights, he served as the Head of Business Affairs for the New York based indie Palm Pictures, where he applied his expertise in connection with film, TV, video, music, new media and related entertainment business agreements for all of Palm’s entities and as well as for projects marketed and distributed by all major film and TV distributors. Prior to joining Palm, Mark practiced law in the private sector with prominent entertainment law firms which represented various independent and major film and music companies and related films (Sling Blade, Tumbleweeds, Black and White, American Buffalo, Outside Providence) and talent (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync). He received his JD from Hofstra School of Law and holds a B.A. from Hofstra University School of Government and International Affairs.

CONTROLLER

Asao Trinh serves as Controller of Magilla Entertainment. She began her media and entertainment finance career as a Financial Analyst at National Geographics Television. She held a variety of senior financial management positions, including Assistant Controller of Half Yard Productions, and Controller of the NFLPA ACE Media & Entertainment. She worked with clients such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount+, Netflix, Sony Pictures Studios, Twitch, and MGM Studios. Asao holds a B.S. in Financial Economics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.