Vincent Kralyevich

Vincent Kralyevich started KPI in 1993. In 2002, the company will be producing upwards of 40 hours of programming and has projected revenue of more than $6 million. Our clients includes A&E, The History Channel, Bravo, MSNBC, Discovery, TLC, The Travel Channel, and TNN. KPI also has its own footage archive and finances its own DVD, home video and co-productions.

Before working in television, Kralyevich spent 1976 to 1986 cooking in greasy spoons across America. Two of his more memorable culinary adventures included the vermin-infested Eddie Condon’s -- one of the last authentic 52nd Street jazz clubs -- and a nursing home where he learned how to puree liver and lasagna for toothless clientele. After graduating high school in 1981 he worked as a machinist rebuilding airplane parts for Grumman Aerospace -- a reason he still does not like to fly. But after witnessing a fellow machinist lose a finger, he promptly applied, and was accepted to, Parsons School of Design in 1982.

After graduating in 1986 he worked as a freelance illustrator for magazines such as Rolling Stone. But since art and poverty seem to go hand in hand, he found a glorious day job as a messenger for TV producer CEL Communications who created programs such as Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers. There he quickly mastered the NYC subway system as well as the process of making documentary television. By 1987, the messenger with the weird last name was promoted to associate producer and then editor.

As cable television began blossoming in the late 80’s CEL was asked by A&E to produce a new series called Biography. Kralyevich was fortunate to become one of its first producers. By 1993, the 28 year old was young and foolish enough to take the leap of faith to start KPI. To do so, he put his house up as collateral for a bank loan and only recently has his extremely patient wife of 10 years started speaking to him again.

Today, KPI continues to produce for A&E and was hand selected to produce a four-hour special celebrating Biography’s fifteenth anniversary. In addition, KPI has produced a pilot for TNN, several underwater specials for the History Channel, Bravo authorized profiles of Whoopi Goldberg, John Travolta and Johnny Depp. KPI also created a verite crime series for MSNBC titled Inmate Diaries, a pilot for Discovery Kids called That’s Disgusting! and received the green light for a new series for Bravo called From Bestseller to Blockbuster.

KPI’s success remains in its ability to cost-effectively maximize value for networks. But the company’s success has little to do with Kralyevich. The credit goes to a core management team who have all grown from within the company and include: Kristy Sabat, Bill Hunt, Rob Sullivan and Jennifer Honn. After nearly a decade together, the trust Kralyevich has in this group has now allowed him to focus less on management and more on what he prefers to do best: producing TV programming and chasing his two kids around the backyard.