Meet Jesse Collins, TV’s most requested producer | Leisure Information Headlines

“I received an e mail from Oprah saying, ‘What’s your cell?,’” Collins recalled to The Related Press. “She had a dialog with Bob Iger and Disney, and he or she had really useful me for the Oscars.

“It’s attention-grabbing as a result of (the Academy and I) had met in earlier years however then this was the yr. I feel the Oprah stamp undoubtedly helped push it,” he added. “It’s like the best reference you possibly can ever have. , on a job reference you place your mother and your finest good friend who you recognize gained’t say one thing silly and your cousin, who additionally has a very good job. Oprah trumps all of that.”

Collins’ Oscars gig will come weeks after the March 14 Grammys — this yr he is been promoted to co-executive producer — and two months after he turned the primary Black govt producer of the Super Bowl halftime show.

“I didn’t anticipate them to all line up like this,” he mentioned. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime second.”

He and his all-star crew hit new heights with last year’s BET Awards, one of many first awards exhibits produced throughout the pandemic. The occasion was a essential success, as Collins and producers put collectively a present that includes extremely produced and well-crafted pre-taped performances, with some centered across the Black expertise highlighted by the Black Lives Matter motion, civil rights and the lives of these misplaced due to law enforcement officials, together with George Floyd.

“I feel the BET Awards have been a leaping off level for lots of stuff. Unexpectedly individuals simply wished to know the way we did it and what made us go that approach. The cellphone undoubtedly lit up the day after we did the present,” he mentioned.

A type of calls got here from Desiree Perez, the CEO of Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s leisure firm that began producing the halftime present final yr.

“It was life altering to work on one thing so prestigious with a lot historical past,” Collins mentioned of the spectacle starring The Weeknd. “Simply to see how the machine works that pulls that factor collectively was superb. Now I perceive how the mechanics of a halftime present work. It’s not like the rest.”

Subsequent is the Grammys, which have been initially purported to happen on Jan. 31 however have been delayed as a result of pandemic. It can mark Collins’ 10th yr engaged on the present, the place he is held positions like phase producer, consulting producer and producer. Performers embrace Taylor Swift, Cardi B, BTS, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion and Harry Kinds.

“It’s going to be entertaining. It’s going to be all the pieces we want it to be at this second,” he mentioned. “That’s what we’ve been centered on and that’s what we’re going to ship.”

Collins has a protracted historical past of working straight with musicians and reserving A-listers for giant occasions. He’s collaborated with Cardi B on each “Cardi Tries” on Fb Watch and “Rhythm + Circulate.” The latter sequence was a 2019 hit for Netflix, and the winner of the present — bilingual rapper D Smoke — is competing for 2 Grammys, together with finest rap album and finest new artist.

“Rhythm + Circulate” contrasts current seasons of “American Idol” and “The Voice,” the place its winners discover little success and the highlight stays on the movie star judges.

“It’s a testomony to the present,” Collins mentioned, including that he hopes the sequence will get renewed for a second season. “We actually wished to create a present the place the present would grow to be a steppingstone for the artist to go on and have a legit profession.”

However the present must wait till Collins’ schedule clears up. Simply hours after he wraps the Grammys, the nominees for the Oscars will probably be introduced: “That’s when it’s like a horse race. The three of us (producers) are popping out the gate.”

Collins is the fourth Black producer within the present’s 93rd historical past, and shortly after the April 25 occasion celebrating the yr’s finest in movie, he would have accomplished his trifecta. After which he can relaxation.

“When the Oscars are over, we’re going proper into BET Awards,” he mentioned of the occasion that sometimes airs in June.

“I feel I’ll go on trip to my sofa. I’m going to take a robust nap, like a pleasant previous particular person nap the place you say it’s solely going to be 15 minutes and also you get up a day later.”