In 2005, Fox Television Studios approached Simon Andreae to leave his successful division at Channel Four in the UK and start a production company in Los Angeles dedicated to high quality, innovative, unscripted programming. The Incubator was born.
In 2007 The Incubator became fully independent and Simon was officially joined by his wife, Lisa. As Co-Presidents they grew the company together, working for clients including CBS, The CW, Discovery, Fox, GSN, HBO, History, Lifetime, National Geographic, Oxygen, Science Channel, Spike TV, TLC, USA Network, VH1, and WEtv, as well as Channel Four, Channel Five, and BSkyB in the UK.
In 2010, Simon accepted a newly created role at Discovery and Lisa became sole President, moving the company forward in 2011, a year which sees us busier than ever with new competition shows, reality shows, and documentaries all in production, and on subjects as varied as beer, human psychology, lifestyle, social adaptation and, in collaboration with Morgan Freeman, the deepest mysteries of our universe.
We are proud of our work and our brand, striving to create shows that are both highly original and deeply absorbing. Our team is passionate, hard working and above all, collaborative. Television is a collective enterprise and we try to reflect a sense of teamwork in all we do.
In 2007, together with Pioneer Productions in London, we were happy recipients of top awards at both the BANFF World Television Festival and the New York Film and TV Festival for our two hour National Geographic and Channel Four Special: “In the Womb”. — ‘Staggeringly Beautiful’ — Daily Telegraph, UK.
At the beginning of 2008, we entered into a collaboration with Hot Patootie Productions, under which we have developed and produced shows featuring journalist Dawn Porter. This has led to a series of specials on Polygamy, Mail Order Brides, Free Love, and Japanese Geishas (TLC and WEtv in US), as well as a feature length documentary exploring the experience of Breast Cancer: “My Breasts Could Kill Me”.
In 2009, we were proud to begin collaboration with Revelations Entertainment to produce “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman,” now in its second season. — ‘Asking the big questions in a dignified manner’ — New York Times
We continue to work closely with a number of UK and European producers, helping them set up projects in the US. Among our notable successes is David Sington’s multi-award winning feature documentary: “In The Shadow of the Moon”. — ‘Fresh, compelling… riveting’ — Los Angeles Times