Former dramatic and documentary freelance producer/editor Bob Schneiger was named VP/chief creative officer of Towers Productions, Chicago’s biggest documentary TV production companies, with 95 employees and shows for at least a half-dozen series in production.
Schneiger was offered the position by Jonathan Towers following the early July departure of Greg Jacobs, who wanted to pursue independent production after seven years with the company.
“When Jonathan talked to me about the job, I thought about it for about a quick 10 minutes and said ?yes.’ Up to this point I never thought a full-time job was interesting enough to pursue, but Greg had created this position and made it very special,” said Schneiger, a 25-year TV show/film veteran.
He is currently working on a variety of shows, as supervisor of the entire creative staff of producers, writers and editors on all the series. “I enjoy getting involved at the critical points and adding some value to the show,” Schneiger said. “What’s also different is that I work on eight or 10 projects rather than just one.”
Over the past five years, Schneiger has written, produced and directed several shows each for the Towers series’ “American Justice,” “History’s Mysteries” and “True Crime Authors” airing on the History Channel and A&E. Towers also produces “Storm Stories” and a new Biography series about worldwide serial killers.
In 2001, Schneiger spent six months in Shanghai planning and supervising the creation China’s first HD studio and post suite for the complex dramatic series, “Flatland,” starring Dennis Hopper, that has yet to find distribution.
His previous work in dramatic series includes supervising editor on an ABC series, “Missing Persons,” and editor and story development for USA Networks “Sins of the City.”
A Milwaukee native, Schneiger was a history major at the at University of Wisconsin and came to Chicago in 1979 to study film at Columbia College. He started his career as an editor at Optimus. He left in 1981 to found his own company, Flattiron Films, specializiing in long form TV shows. He won an Emmy for his “Uptown Sounds” and edited Scott Craig’s “On the Waterways” 13-part series that aired on Ch. 11.
Schneiger’s phone is 933-1600; see www.towersproductions.com.
