Jeff Kmiotek, Michael Zinman and Andrew Watnick have been in unscripted TV production for decades. <\/p>\n
Kmiotek became a producer after working in a variety of unscripted formats including game and cooking shows and garnered an Emmy nomination for his work on \u201cThe Masked Singer.\u201d Zinman has a background in visual design and creative producing and also received an Emmy nomination in 2014. Watnick got his start in casting before moving to development and eventually producing on shows like \u201cThe Masked Singer\u201d and \u201cThe Amazing Race.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a September 2024 encounter in Las Vegas led the three to take on a different kind of gamble than the city is known for: to break away from their careers in traditional TV and use their cumulative media production knowledge to create their own production company for online content.<\/p>\n
The three observed a changing tide in unscripted TV production over the last few years. \u201cBudgets are getting slashed, costs are getting slashed, and schedules are getting slashed,\u201d Kmiotek said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, online platforms like YouTube have experienced an accelerated rise in popularity. \u201cI\u2019d watch YouTube and there\u2019s such amazing content,\u201d Kmiotek added. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to go through the process that we had to go through on network TV with all the different cooks in the kitchen and executives and notes.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Andrew Watnick, left, Jeff Kmiotek and Michael Zinman worked in traditional TV before founding Elixir.<\/p>\n
(Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
YouTube is experiencing a massive growth in revenue for creators who post videos on the platform. A recent ad revenue forecast<\/a> by WPP Media found that online creator-driven revenue is up 20% from 2024 and is expected to double next year, while TV revenue is expected to increase by only 1%. YouTube also reached<\/a> a 44.8% viewership share in May 2025, according to Nielsen, passing the figures for cable and broadcast TV for the first time.<\/p>\n YouTube offers a lucrative benefit not available to those who work in network TV: the ability to own the rights to their own shows and exercise complete creative control. \u201cWorking a hundred hours a week for a television show \u2026 you could be up at 3 in the morning and you\u2019re doing this for someone else. But when you\u2019re doing it for yourself, there\u2019s no bitterness,\u201d Kmiotek said.<\/p>\n Zinman owned an existing production studio in Downtown L.A., which was designed to do motion capture and virtual production for TV. That established space \u2014 dubbed Lulu Studios <\/a>\u2014 became the home of Elixir, the trio\u2019s production company<\/a>. They funded the venture with their own money, and Kmiotek quit his job as a TV producer to run the company full-time. Three weeks after that initial meeting in Vegas, the team was shooting its first shows.<\/p>\n Elixir enters a booming space in the YouTube marketplace: online dating shows. Companies like Jubilee, nectar and Cut have built followings in the tens of millions across social media platforms with their unscripted content. Episodes easily reach view counts in the millions, sometimes surpassing the Nielsen ratings for recent seasons of \u201cThe Bachelor.\u201d And in January, the popular YouTube show \u201cPop the Balloon\u201d was even parodied on \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d While scripted shows often require large budgets made possible by major entertainment companies, unscripted content can be filmed with pared-down resources and easily posted online.<\/p>\n The Elixir team saw a gap in this growing market that their expertise in TV production could fill. \u201cMost of those shows are [filmed against] white stark backgrounds\u2026 But as a way to differentiate we said OK, what if we do those fun simple concepts\u2026 But we\u2019re giving it a better aesthetic,\u201d Kmiotek said.<\/p>\n Lulu Studios in Los Angeles is photographed on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. <\/p>\n (Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n That aesthetic shift is toward creating eye-catching visuals for their shows, whether that be romantic digital backdrops for their show \u201cRed Flag, Green Flag\u201d or building a giant table for contestants to stick their heads through for \u201cDate on a Plate.\u201d<\/a> The company\u2019s goal: leaning into the weird and silly to create attention-grabbing content with a unique visual style to set them apart from competitors.<\/p>\n At the heart of Elixir\u2019s goal is making shows that have a unique look. Their marquee series is \u201cDate on a Plate,\u201d an idea that Watnick says comes from his pitch for a TV show that never made it to air. The visual of a dinner cart being wheeled out with three heads under cloches was transformed into an online dating show where contestants can only see each other\u2019s heads and compete in challenges.<\/p>\n Unlike most YouTube shows, \u201cDate on a Plate\u201d has embraced traditional media alongside online promotion. The trailer for the show premiered on \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d and the team went on the show and had host Mario Lopez try out the concept.<\/p>\n Comedian Nicky Paris is the host of Elixr\u2019s flagship show \u201cDate on a Plate\u201d<\/p>\n (Andrew Max Levy)<\/p>\n \u201cDate on a Plate\u201d \u2014 and many of Elixir\u2019s shows \u2014 are also differentiated from most YouTube offerings by having professional hosts. For \u201cDate on a Plate\u201d they have Nicky Paris, a longtime stand-up comedian and TV host. \u201cI prefer produced things,\u201d Paris said. \u201cAnyone could hold a phone and [film], but in some ways I still enjoy the fantasy of when things are packaged and polished.\u201d<\/p>\n Elixir has a core team of roughly six people with additional crew members who come in for shoot days when the team films anywhere from two to seven episodes of a show. The company then slowly releases the episodes it films over the course of several months.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody wants to pivot to digital, but no one knows how to, and we\u2019re in [a] sense learning as well,\u201d Zinman said. So the team is relying on feedback from Gen Z colleagues and learning the nuances of growing an audience on YouTube, like the key to a great video title or thumbnail that can make or break a video\u2019s success.<\/p>\n Jeff Kmiotek, founding member of the Elixir channel, is photographed at Lulu Studios in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. <\/p>\n (Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re at the mercy of YouTube getting us in the algorithm and you never know what can happen on these sites,\u201d Kmiotek said. \u201cOur shows are developed in a way they can have life outside of social media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n Another major motivating factor for the creation of Elixir was the current slowdown of film and TV productions in Los Angeles<\/a>. The topic has been the subject of heavy coverage in the wake of the recent fires that exacerbated the need for the city\u2019s production workers to find stable jobs. \u201cIn Los Angeles right now, the past three [or] four years, the landscape has certainly changed in television if you\u2019re anybody from a carpenter that\u2019s on a stage versus a showrunner. Work is leaving,\u201d Zinman said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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