Biographie
Robert Sertner has developed and produced series television, low-budget theatricals, and over 125 movies for television, enjoying a reputation of delivering consistently high-rated entertainment with much sought-after talent including directors, writers, authors and actors. He has produced projects starring some of the biggest names in entertainment including: Brad Pitt, Hillary Swank, George Clooney, Pierce Brosnan, Courtney Cox, William H. Macy, Shirley MacLaine, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, and Tom Selleck, among many others.
Sertner began his show business career in the mailroom of Dick Clark Productions. He later moved to Filmways Television, where he produced a half hour comedy pilot for NBC. But the turning point of his career came when he met another dynamic independent producer, Frank von Zerneck, with whom Sertner teamed in 1988 to form von Zerneck/Sertner Films - which is still recognized as one of the leading independent suppliers of long-form entertainment in the world.
Sertner switched his sights from long-form to series television in 2010 on NO ORDINARY FAMILY for Greg Berlanti and ABC Studios. Next came ABC's hit drama REVENGE, followed by multiple pilots, including MISTRESSES, which he developed and which ran for four seasons on ABC. That was followed by the series BLOOD & OIL as well as another successful series, QUANTICO, in addition to four seasons of the Peabody Award-winning series, UnREAL, which has been nominated for multiple Emmy awards and which has enjoyed phenomenal critical acclaim.
Prior to that, he developed and produced the record-shattering docudrama THE PREGNANCY PACT for Lifetime Television - a docudrama which premiered with ratings that catapulted it to become one of the highest rated movies in Lifetime's history. Sertner also produced a romantic comedy for ABC Family in 2010, starring Hilary Duff, entitled BEAUTY & THE BRIEFCASE. And Sertner is particularly proud of another recent record-breaking success: GIRL, POSITIVE, a multiple award-winning drama about the tragedy of teen AIDS which received an inaugural Television Academy Honors Award.
Sertner's past season long-form successes include many #1 top-rated Network programs, including the CBS miniseries CATEGORY 7: THE END OF THE WORLD. In that same season Sertner produced three of the top ten Made-for-Cable originals, including FOR ONE NIGHT, a hard-hitting contemporary story of racial discrimination in a southern high school.
Sertner also produced the critically acclaimed and highly rated WE WERE THE MULVANEYS, which was based on the best-selling Oprah Book Club novel by Joyce Carol Oates and which was nominated for three Emmy Awards; GRACIE'S CHOICE, winner of the Prism award for excellence in depiction of drug and alcohol abuse, starring Kristen Bell and Anne Heche in an Emmy-nominated performance; WITHIN THESE WALLS, starring Academy Award winners Ellen Burstyn and Laura Dern, which was nominated for a Humanitas Award; AMBULANCE GIRL, directed by and starring Kathy Bates in a standout performance which won her a Best Actress Emmy nomination; and NO ORDINARY BABY, starring Bridget Fonda, who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her stunning performance in the film.
Sertner also served as the series Executive Producer of the multiple Emmy-winning Native American series of original films, including CRAZY HORSE. Among the many other highly successful projects which Sertner is proud to include on his resume: TOO YOUNG TO DIE, starring Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis; GORE VIDAL'S BILLY THE KID; THE COURT MARTIAL OF JACKIE ROBINSON; TO HEAL A NATION about the birth of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial; and THE WEST SIDE WALTZ, starring Shirley MacLaine, Liza Minnelli and Kathy Bates - three Academy Award winning actresses.
Over the years, Robert Sertner has produced some of television's most successful projects, enjoying both critical and commercial success.
