India’s Essel Group Establishes U.S. Production Venture

India’s Essel Group has formed the new Los Angeles-based production company Z Productions, which is its first production company in the U.S.

Z Productions will tap into Essel Group’s media assets and IP, which reach 169 countries and more than 1.3 billion viewers around the world. Essel Group is behind 41 global networks producing more than 60 hours of programming daily.

Z Productions is already in production on two original series in the transformation and health space and has numerous projects in development in genres such as documentary, competition, food, paranormal, nature and relationships, as well as branded digital and event series.

Overseen by Rajeev Kheror, who serves as president of Z Productions (as well as president of Zee Entertainment Enterprises), the new production venture will be led by veteran entertainment executive and producer Tim Krubsack, who has been named executive VP and head of programming.

Kheror and Krubsack held the same titles at Zee’s U.S. health-entertainment cable network Z Living, which is currently in the process of transitioning from linear operations to a fully digital model. As a stand-alone full-service production entity, Z Productions is a completely separate venture from the company’s digital offering; however, Kheror and Krubsack will continue to work together to run and grow both distinct products and brands.

Kheror said, “With the industry changing at such a rapid pace, we are focused on exciting ways to diversify our reach, and also to position the pioneering spirit of the Essel Group. With Z Productions, we are hitting the ground running to mobilize the marketplace with dynamic projects across a wide spectrum of formats and genres.”

Krubsack added, “It’s been a rewarding challenge to grow a niche network and develop such distinctive lifestyle programming. As a long-time programmer, launching Z Productions offers the perfect opportunity to stretch our collective creative muscles with innovative content for television and digital platforms. We look forward to tapping into the great and varied resources of Essel to deliver fresh and diverse content to a variety of buyers.”