New York, NY (January 14, 2011) – KPI, the primetime Emmy-award winning television production company has signed an exclusive talent deal with Jeanne Chavez and Dineh Mohajer, founders of Hard Candy cosmetics and Goldie Cosmetics, to produce a reality TV series based on the entrepreneurial world of these beauty industry pioneers. In 1999, Dineh and Jeanne sold Hard Candy for $30 million (est.), and the powerhouse duo are responsible for helping create and brand over 1,000 products and generate billions of dollars in beauty revenue.

Today, Dineh and Jeanne, repped by APA, collaborate with celebrities, corporations, fairytale characters (i.e. Tinker Bell) and television shows (such as American Idol) to help them brand, develop and launch their own cosmetics’ lines. They also get thousands of submissions from amateur beauty inventors asking for their secrets to success, and now they’re ready to reveal what their world looks like. APA was thrilled to pair this dynamic duo with KPI, repped by Kaplan Stahler, to produce a reality series.

Vinnie Kralyevich, President and CEO of KPI says, “Jeanne and Dineh are two beauty industry tastemakers that are made for television. They are dynamic personalities who let us enter their entrepreneurial business world as they greenlight or pass on beauty products sent to them to develop. We could not be more excited to have to the opportunity to bring these makeup divas to television.”

“We are confident about our partnership with KPI based on their talent and industry experience,” –Jeanne Chavez

“We felt an instant synergy from day one and look forward to having the opportunity to be part of a television series.” — Dineh Mohajer

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About Dineh Mohajer and Jeanne Chavez
In 1995, college student Dineh Mohajer struggled to find a shade of nail polish to match an outfit she was wearing to a party. She mixed together a pastel blue color that would soon take the world by storm. With the help of well respected beauty expert, Jeanne Chavez, these pastel nail concoctions led to glitter pencils, eyewear, makeup bags and in the end of the first year it was a ten million dollar company. Hard Candy with its revolutionary formulas married with irreverent names was snatched up by high end retailers such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora and Fred Segal as well as prestige retailers in Tokyo and London. Within three years it was the fastest growing, revenue generating, independent brand in the cosmetic industry, and an irresistible purchase for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy group. Today Dineh and Jeanne are represented by APA’s Branded Lifestyle Department.

About KPI
KPI is an Emmy Award-winning production company whose clients include A&E, Bravo, Discovery, OWN, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Discovery Science, TLC, History, Travel Channel, truTV, The Military Channel, MSNBC, Smithsonian Channel, and HGTV. KPI has created crime programming, hosted programming, factual, period and historical dramas, reality programming, underwater production, celebrity profiles, cost-effective international studio production, animal programming and docu-soaps for the past seventeen years. They continue to evolve and push boundaries in the television industry. KPI is represented by Kaplan Stahler.

KPI and Tatiana Byron-Marx, owner and founder of The Wedding Salon, have decided to make it official and take the leap into contractual bliss. Tatiana recently signed a one-year contract to work with KPI to create a show based around her success. Four years ago, Tatiana teamed up with Martha Stewart to create the world’s first luxury wedding showcase.  As an attendee to one of her showcases I can testify that this is no way an exaggeration. Thousands of celebrities, socialites, celebrity stylists/planners, and brides-to-be attend this larger than life wedding showcase. Without missing a beat, The Wedding Salon has a non-stop, energetic atmosphere with live bands, a bridal fashion show, plastic surgeons, makeup artist and hairstyle. From Sylvia Weinstock’s cakes, to Tiffany & Co. rings and couture dresses this showcase is a haven for brides-to-be.

Bill Hunt, SVP of Development for KPI says, “The signing of Tatiana continues KPI’s continued expansion into lifestyle and docusoap programming to compliment our core history, science and technology genres.”

–Kendra McClean, Development Assisant

A demonologist, a psychic and a skeptic walk into a haunted house. Sounds like the beginning of a bar joke, right? Don’t laugh—I was there. We were on the hunt for a house with the same paranormal phenomena as the infamous “Amityville Horror” house on Long Island, NY. We assembled a team of experts to help us investigate unexplained hauntings at two California locations.

The demonology crew showed up with nine cases of ghost-hunting gear which we loaded into a van for the four hour road trip to our first stop–Wolfe Manor in Clovis, CA. Talk ranged from spiritualism and UFOs to how each of them got into the business of ridding houses of the demonic. (That’s a whole other show, I swear–) Each team member brings a unique skill: intimate knowledge of how spirits present themselves on film and video; the technical ability to set up a command center and 8 cameras; interpersonal skills to help calm frightened homeowners. And did I mention our official expert skeptic from Skeptical Inquirer Magazine?

On the first night of our ghost hunt, the team pulled out a FLIR thermal-imaging infrared system – a high-tech camera that can see heat energy normally invisible to the human eye, including temperature shifts as small as six-one-hundredths of a degree. Not long after, they spotted the first paranormal event of the night – a pulsating red and orange hot spot. They freaked out. It was an anomaly unlike anything they had ever seen before. Their first thought – it’s a vortex into another dimension! After more thought – maybe it’s a bee hive nested in the wall? They banged on the walls, looking for some sort of reactions – demons or bees would do at that point. But nothing…. All was quiet. That was until the expedition team in the next room started communicating with the spirits in the house. The bees/vortex would have to wait… We had some more serious ghost busting to do.
– Jessie Vogelson

So of course you’re thinking:  you can’t fool me, that’s not the real Stonehenge.  What is this, some cheesy theme-park left-over? A claymation set on steroids?  You are right.  These pics were not taken in Wiltshire, England.  They were taken in Washington State, USA.  Everybody talks about how incredible Stonehenge looks.  They should also be asking how it sounds.  KPI associate producer Yuki Kaneshige knows why:

Our program looks into Rupert Till’s theory that the stones of Stonehenge were shaped and placed in such a way as to create acoustic effects that could “en-trance” or hypnotize participants gathered there for ancient rituals.

So he and another British sound expert, Bruno Fazenda also of the University of Huddersfield, conducted audio tests at the Stonehenge Memorial in Maryhill, Washington (dedicated to local WWI veterans), because it is a replica of what Stonehenge in the UK must have looked like originally, with all stones standing.

They brought in tons of gear for their day and night-time tests: a special 12-sided speaker they nicknamed their “dode”, amps and microphones, as well as original software for measuring the reverberation and echoes of sounds they were using. Balloon-popping was not just fun, but also a very effective way to test how a loud sound would spread out equally in all directions.  The team also tested tones and drum beats of what music back in the day may have sounded like.

Later at NYU, the site recordings were played for a test subject (i.e., a person) who was monitored by an MEG (magnetoencephalography) machine showing activity in regions of the brain. He was also hypnotized to show how the human voice can entrance someone into certain behaviors like scratching their nose. We can only conjecture what repetitive drumbeats or other sounds might induce a person to do in a setting like Stonehenge…

–Yuki Kaneshige, Associate producer

In Berlin, we have arranged to interview the last-surviving member of Hitler’s Berlin bunker entourage. His name is Rochus Misch and he is 91.

He was there in the underground bunker during Hitler’s final days. After the war, he was imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag for 10 years—and now has become something of a celebrity in Germany.
Misch is a nostalgic old Nazi, who still refuses to think beyond what happened outside of his personal experience. It creeps me out a little. But then again, he is so charming. A “charming servant”—warm and ingratiating. I am reminded of Hannah Arendt’s writings about the “banality of evil.” I feel conflicted…

The interview goes surprisingly well. Misch is forthcoming and comes alive when talking about his experiences in the bunker. Since we are speaking German, there is a natural connection. But again, I feel conflicted…

–Frauke Levin, Associate Producer

MYSTERYQUEST: HITLER’S ESCAPE airs Wednesday, September 16 at 10PM/9C on HISTORY.