Q&A: Jay Holzer, Executive Producer At Tastemade On 'The Un-Adventurers'

In retrospect, it's not a surprise that Tastemade has been very successful finding the under-served audiences for video. The company was founded by Larry Fitzgibbon, Joe Perez and Steven Kydd, who formerly worked together at Demand Media. Demand ran sites like eHow and their primary business model was closely watching search engine requests, then creating content to answer the most asked questions.

In some ways, Tastemade is a similar idea. The company specializes in creating video that speaks to audiences that are often ignored by bigger lifestyle and food media companies. Their shows are often a bit quirky and specific to a younger lifestyle. But all of their shows are also expertly made and have a production value as slick and professional as anything from a traditional television channel.

That's likely one of the reasons why it has been so successful working with major brands to create relevant video. One of Tastemade's creative sweet spots is producing shows that both speak to brand's message, but do it in an understated and professional way. That is certainly the case with "The Un-Adventurers," a new series from Tastemade and Hyundai that premieres on Wednesday. The series is inspired by the tens of millions of Americans who have never left their home state and each episode follows one "Un-Adventurer," who travels on the road trip of their dreams.

Tastemade and Hyundai had previously teamed up on the 14-part series about tailgating called "The Grill Iron," which also aired on the Cooking Channel.

Jay Holzer, Executive Producer at Tastemade, recently spoke to AllYourScreens about the series and the impact that COVID-19 has had on the production of "The Unadventurers" and other Tastemade shows.

Q: What were you looking for when you cast the participants for "The Un-Adventurers?" Do you have a certain type of story in mind ahead of time, or were the segments driven by their stories?

Jay Holzer: The only requirement we had for casting was that we find people that had truly never left their home state and were willing to step outside of their comfort zone on camera. We had some expectations for what types of stories we might find, but were genuinely surprised by the range of reasons people had for having never traveled, making it hard to narrow it down to just the four stories we’re telling in season one.  

Q: Tastemade has a lot of experience working with brands on projects like this. From your perspective, what is that creative process like? How do you balance the needs of the brand with the necessity of entertaining the audience? 

Jay Holzer: The best branded projects are always the ones where the brand and the concept are both complementary and inseparable. If the show works without the brand, or works with a different brand in their place, then you are always going to have creative tension. In this instance, we leaned heavily on insights from Hyundai when developing the creative for the show, and found ways where the show could be both uniquely Tastemade and uniquely Hyundai at the same time. Them and their agencies were true creative partners throughout the entire process from development through post, and the show is demonstrably better due to their involvement.

Q: There are a lot of streaming video options for viewers. What would you say is Tastemade's strength, compared to some of its other competitors? 

Jay Holzer: Although we play within the lifestyle space, we’re equally concerned with telling impactful, inspiring stories as we are with entertainment. Shows like our James Beard-award winning "Broken Bread," which tackles social issues through the lens of food, or our currently airing, "Cooking with Pride," which spotlights the stories of LGBTQ chefs, are shows that you wouldn’t find on any other lifestyle network.

Q: Production on the series was suspended due to the pandemic. How has the coronavirus impacted Tastemade? Has it had an impact on traffic/viewer numbers? 

Jay Holzer: The health and safety of our cast and crew is always the most important consideration when doing a big shoot like this, so we have been prioritizing that as we make decisions about moving forward with production in the way we had pre-pandemic.  As most of the country sheltered in place, we saw an increase in overall traffic to our streaming network, similar to the rest of the TV landscape. We also saw a large increase in viewership on our show, Struggle Meals, which for three seasons has shown viewers how to create dishes using the ingredients they already have in their kitchen, most for under $2 a serving.

Q: Do you have any sense of when you'll be able to get back to producing shows such as "The Un-Adventurers"? 

Jay Holzer: We’re excited to get back on the road and into production, so we’re closely monitoring the local guidelines at our studio headquarters in California, as well as the guidelines in the states and cities that we’re looking to shoot in. We think inspirational storytelling like this is important, so we’re excited to continue telling the story of "The Un-Adventurers" once it is safe to do so. 

"The Un-Adventurers" premieres Wednesday, June 17th on Tastemade. It is available across myriad platforms, including the Tastemade website and app.