As an independent producer, Kantor had directed one American Masters episode (Quincy Jones: In the Pocket, season 16, episode 4) and produced and directed the Emmy Award-winning series, Broadway: The American Musical and Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America with WNET. In 2014, Michael Kantor succeeded Lacy as executive producer. At the time of the show's premiere, she was also the East Coast head of the Sundance Institute. Before creating the series Lacy had been the senior programmer for Great Performances and one of the 'architects' of American Playhouse, having written the original proposal for the latter. Susan Lacy, American Masters creator and former executive producer, selected each subject, matched them to the specific filmmakers, and oversaw a first-season budget of $8 million. It aired on June 23, 1986, as one of two episodes not specifically commissioned for the show's first season.

The first of the 15 first-season episodes was Private Conversations, a ' cinema-verite documentary by Christian Blackwood done in that trickiest of cinematic forms: a film about a film, in this instance the television version of Death of a Salesman, directed by Volker Schlöndorff'. History Īmerican Masters, a series 'devoted to America's 'greatest native-born and adopted' artists', was originally scheduled to premiere in September 1985 for 'logistical scheduling reasons' the premiere was delayed until summer 1986, though on October 16, 1985, an American Masters 'special' called Aaron Copland: A Self-Portrait was aired. Groups or organizations featured include: Actors Studio, Algonquin Round Table, Group Theatre, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Women of Tin Pan Alley, Negro Ensemble Company, Juilliard School, the Beat Generation, the singer-songwriters of the 1970s, Sun Records, vaudeville, and Warner Bros.

Susan Lacy (1986–2013), Michael Kantor (2014–present)Īmerican Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States. American TV series or program American MastersĢ79 (as of January 11, 2022) ( list of episodes)

American masters funding credits 2001