Kimberly Belcher Cowin's

xinterfaceA Story>>By MichaelCandelariaFOR TELEVISIONKIMBERLY BELCHER COWIN, OWNER OFPINK SNEAKERS PRODUCTIONSIf a reality-television show were to be done about Kimberly Belcher Cowin’scareer and company, it likely would be called “Life in the Fast Lane.”After all, Cowin has gone from 1997 University of Florida grad and MTV intern toowner/executive producer of Pink Sneakers Productions faster than you can say,“Lights, camera, action.”Her company develops and produces original programming — reality showsand documentaries — for various networks, including VH1, MTV and ABC.Current works include reality shows “My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding” (VH1) and“Hogan Knows Best” (VH1), along with the documentary series, “True Life: I’m InAn Interfaith Relationship” (MTV).10texture Spring/Summer 2008

What began as a three-person, homebasedhope has grown into a go-to,one-stop, turnkey enterprise, with itsown facility in Apopka, Florida thathouses 10 edit suites, an audio suite,and some 60 to 80 people on the payrollin any given week.And Cowin, who turns 33 in April,is far from ready to call it a wrap. Theplot, she says, is just now thickening.T Texture: What type of visiondid you have at the start of PinkSneakers?kc Kimberly Belcher Cowin: The initialvision was a little bit smaller thanwhat it has grown into. At the time, Ihad a lot of anxiety and fear about leavingNew York. In this business, there aremaybe two or three other productioncompanies that don’t exist in New Yorkor L.A., doing the same type of realitytelevision that we do. So, at the time,I was satisfied with just doing one orPHOTOS BY PHELAN EBENHACKtwo series a year for MTV and someother networks.T How has that vision changed?kc Each year, we want to feel like wehave grown or done something to challengeourselves in a different way thanthe year prior. For 2008, it looks likewe’ll be doing an additional series,and last year was our first series foranother new network. Really, the goalis to continue growing and continuedoing projects that are quality and thatget high ratings.T Has any part of the businesssurprised you in the past sevenyears?kc How quickly the company grew.When I was at Universal Studios, rentingcubes [after moving the businessout of her home], we kept adding onand, finally, it was like, “Wow, we reallyneed to move and get our space.” Asfar as the projects, it was just a matterof people liking to do business withpeople who are very buttoned up andcross their Ts and dot their Is, anddeliver quality, high-ratings projects.Once you start doing that and peoplestart doing business with you, youdevelop those relationships. Then theywant to do more. I just had no idea itwould be so quick.T You’ve been able to capture thestate of youth and pop culturethrough reality TV. Do you think thepopularity of reality TV will ever die?kc It may slow down a little here orthere. But the foundation of reality televisionis documentaries, and people arealways going to be intrigued by otherpeople. That’s just the bottom line,whether it’s morphed into more of anentertainment version of the documentarystyle of programming. It’s still thatpeople are curious and intrigued byinteresting people.T What is the secret to yoursuccess?kc It’s attitude. If you’re going to bespending the majority of the hours ofyour days at work, people want to enjoywhat they’re doing. The hours are longand grueling and crazy sometimes, butwe’ve tried to build an environmentwhere we’re having fun. One personwith a bad attitude can make everyone’sexperience not so much fun.T What are you most proud of?kc I guess I’m most proud of our internand apprentice program. We work witha lot of the colleges and universitiesthroughout the state of Florida. We’llrecruit and train the college students.I’ve modeled my experience at MTV,which was always about giving youngpeople a lot of opportunity to grow.A lot of our producers started outas interns.T What have been the toughestchallenges?kc I would say our biggest challenge isthat when you have young people whowork for you, they think the grass isalways greener. So, they are lured toNew York or L.A., after we spent yearstraining them. I’m convinced that it willcome full circle and that they’ll want tomove back to Florida.T Earlier you mentioned thatyou had a reluctance to move fromNew York yourself. So, why CentralFlorida?kc My family and my roots are in CentralFlorida, and my husband and hisentire family are from Florida. I loveFlorida. If I could live anywhere, I’d pickFlorida. Going anywhere but New Yorkand L.A. is a challenge in this business.But everything clicked. We had a lot ofgood luck and good people. That’sreally the biggest asset — the peoplethat I’ve been able to find here. x11texture Spring/Summer 2008