Top comic Bill Burr and his longtime business and producing partner, Mike Bertolina, have launched North Hill Productions, a production company that will be active across film and TV.
As part of the move, Bertolina is stepping down from his role as President and CEO of All Things Comedy, the comedy podcast network and production company founded by Burr and Al Madrigal. As he moves on, he and the ATC Board of Directors have appointed Billy Rosenberg and Drew Eller to serve as co-CEOs of ATC. Both Burr and Bertolina will remain on the ATC Board.
The first production to emerge from North Hill will be Burr’s next one-hour stand-up special, Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years, which is in the can and will premiere on Hulu in March. Already, the company also has an early development slate that spans across genre and media including feature films, scripted and unscripted formats, animation and documentaries.
As co-CEOs of All Things Comedy, Rosenberg and Eller bring extensive experience and ambitious plans to expand ATC’s presence and activity in original programming, live formats, and podcasting. Rosenberg joins after exiting his longtime role as Senior Vice President of Comedy at Hulu Originals, with Eller joining from Range Media Partners, where he was part of the Corporate Strategy & Business Development team.
Observes the latter, “There is a great opportunity for independent companies such as ATC to fill the void of support for comedic talent by providing services and finding dynamic ways to finance and distribute creator-led projects. Our goal is to be at the forefront of this next wave, stationing ATC at the center of social, digital, live and traditional content.”
Together, North Hill Productions and ATC plan to develop and co-produce multiple projects, while Burr’s two successful podcasts, Monday Morning Podcast and Anything Better?, will remain with the ATC Network.
Stated North Hill’s founder, Burr, “I couldn’t be more thrilled that Billy and Drew are at All Things Comedy and I’m excited by their vision for ATC. I look forward to North Hill collaborating with ATC on as many projects as possible.”
Commented Mike Bertolina, who’ll serve as President of North Hill, “I’m incredibly excited by the expertise, creativity and enthusiasm Billy and Drew will bring to All Things Comedy, and I know they will take the company to new heights. Through North Hill Productions, Bill and I look forward to new creative endeavors while continuing our commitment to ATC, and collaborating on many projects moving forward.”
ATC’s co-founder, actor and comedian Al Madrigal, added, “We’re excited to have Billy and Drew onboard to help us fully realize the vision Bill Burr and I had for ATC from the start: to be the leading, one-stop shop for comedians to develop, produce, and distribute their content across podcasts, film, and TV. This news has already generated such a positive response from our peers, confirming what we already knew – Billy and Drew are a perfect match for the future of the company.”
An Emmy and Grammy Award-nominated comedian, actor, filmmaker, writer and podcaster, Burr is coming off of his second outing as host of SNL during the November 9 post-Election show. Currently touring arenas and theaters with his Bill Burr Live tour, he’s set to make his Broadway debut next year alongside Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk in David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.
During his time as President/CEO of All Things Comedy, Bertolina produced Burr’s directorial debut — the Netflix comedy, Old Dads — as well as Drugstore June, starring Esther Povitsky; the feature documentary Patrice O’Neal: Killing is Easy; the Emmy-nominated dark-comedy sketch show Immoral Compass currently on Roku; and stand-up specials for Comedy Central, Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Additionally, he oversaw the ATC podcast network led by shows such as Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast, Tigerbelly, and The Dollop.
Notable ATC podcasts, apart from the aforementioned, include OMG Hi! With George Lopez, Laughing with Myself with Melissa Villaseñor, Welcome to Friday, Nate Bargatze’s Nateland, Anthony Jeselnik’s Jeselnik & Rosenthal Vanity Project, Gettin’ Better with Ron Funches, and Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. Recent ATC-produced stand-up specials include the Netflix specials Mae Martin: SAP, Nicole Byer: BBW, Bill Burr: Live at Red Rocks and Whitney Cummings: Can I Touch It?, as well as Netflix’s annual Best of Standup collections and two from Ronnie Chieng, Asian Comedian Destroys America and Speakeasy.
