Lawrence H. Smith

Lawrence Smith is a veteran multimedia producer with more than 40 years of experience as a producer and executive producer across television, music, film, and web-casting. Throughout his career, Smith has been recognized for his ability to identify emerging platforms before the mainstream catches up — and to build the ventures that define them.​

 

Smith is credited with helping usher in the Golden Age of Music Video. In 1980, he created and executive produced Hollywood Heartbeat — the first weekly music television series in the United States, hosted by Bob Welch of Fleetwood Mac — which directly inspired the creation of MTV. The series aired in over 84 U.S. markets including all of the Top 10, broadcasting across ABC, CBS, NBC, independent networks, and syndicated internationally through Gold Key Media.​

 

Smith executive produced the multi-platinum, award-winning Warner Home Video release The Doors: Tribute to Jim Morrison — MTV's first-ever concert special — which has since become a rockumentary staple on music channels worldwide. He also executive produced one of the first live worldwide web-cast concerts: Ray Manzarek — Light My Fire: A Return to the Whisky a Go Go, produced in partnership with London's Virtue Broadcasting UK and MSN/UK, and recognized that year as one of the most acclaimed live web-cast events globally.​

 

Through four decades of relationships across the entertainment and media industry, Smith brings a proven capacity to assemble accomplished production teams and launch innovative ventures — privately held and publicly traded — at the forefront of each new media era.