A Tribute To Fathers - June 20, 2010 - Segment One

J.D. Roth, Founder and CEO of 3Ball Productions, discusses his experiences in the world of television production. J.D. has created and executive produced prime time and cable reality shows like The Biggest Loser and Beauty and the Geek, and says his business started with a passion for wanting to tell great stories. The best advice he can give someone who wants to start a company is “ignorance is bliss.” As J.D. explains, he had no idea at 21 years old that you weren’t supposed to go in a meeting and ask a network executive for millions of dollars to produce an idea. In J.D.’s opinion, too much information sometimes is bad and not knowing gets rid of any fear. In other words, “if you don’t know that it’s beyond limitation, you can ask for it in a confident way.” J.D. also maintains that knowing what you’re not good at is one of the most important things about running a business. It took him awhile to not want to wrap himself in every aspect of the company, and realize that if you hire really good people, you can step away and let them do their jobs. J.D. compares the situation to the theory of “a finger in everything, but a hand in none.” Once he backed up, he was able to put his hand in what he’s really great at, which is coming up with ideas for shows and then working with his production partner on the creative and executing them out on the field.

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