We’re drawing nearer and nearer to the premiere of our Discovery series “Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero” (airing this Thursday, August 25 at 8pm EST) and the press have been giving the series a lot of attention along the way. Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter went live with some exclusive footage from the series, which you can see above. They wrote, “In THR’s exclusive clips above, former New York governor, George Pataki, talks about what went in to planning the site, we take a look at some of the damaged vehicles from 9/11 — specifically Ladder 3, which held 12 firefighters who all perished — and we get a look at “The Pavilion,” which will house the memorial Twin Tower Tridents.” See the rest of their article by clicking here.

“The host, the chatty New Jersey dealer Jimmy Kaplow, helped people clear out their home shelves to raise money for heartwarming causes like tuition and medical bills.”

A great series that could have been a contender — but died an untimely death. See the write-up here.

Here’s your first look at our upcoming series “Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero,” premiering commercial free on Discovery Channel, Thursday, August 25 at 8PM Eastern and Pacific. For even more video clips from the series before the airdates, head over to the “Rising” minisite on Discovery.

Last week, the 2011 History Makers conference happened here in New York City, where the top international Commissioning Editors and program producers met one another for three days of talks, awards and meetings. KPI’s VP of Creative, Chris Cassel, and Series Producer Jessica Conway were both in attendance. Here’s what Mr. Cassel (first photo, second from left) had to say about the experience:

Having lived with the Ground Zero story at close range for more than a year now, it’s easy to lose perspective on how little the general public really knows about what’s happening behind the fence on those 16 acres, and also how eager that same public is to know more. That high level of interest and curiosity was clear at the History Makers conference last week, where series producer Jessica Conway and I participated in a panel entitled New York and 9/11. We were there alongside Nicole Rittenmeyer, whose riveting documentary “102 Minutes that Changed America” looks at the tragic events of 9/11 minute-by-minute through rarely seen video clips taken at the scene. Our project, “The Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero,” is in some ways the sequel. We like to think of as “the story of 9/12,” that is, the decade-long effort to restore Lower Manhattan to prominence, and to repair the deep emotional wounds that followed the tragedy. Our story is about more than rebuilding structures, although certainly the engineering behind the new buildings is fascinating and central to our series. But we are telling that story of construction through the story of the people doing it, many of whom were directly and profoundly affected by the events of 9/11. During the panel I shared the story of construction super Brian Lyons, who lost his brother on 9/11, quit his job to spend nine months on the pile looking for his remains, which he never found, and then resolved to stay for the entire rebuilding – “from the first bolt until the last bolt” as he says. And then there’s Jimmy Walsh, the quiet plumber who is helping engineering the largest man-made waterfalls in the world, at the very site where he lost his beloved mother.

It was those stories that really resonated with panel attendees, as they no doubt will with our audience. The 50 minutes flew by, and before we knew it we were out of time, hopefully having left the audience wanting more. One thing was clear – that there is a great level of interest in this story, and therefore a great responsibility on us to tell it correctly and completely. That is also, a great honor and privilege. Having now met so many of the individuals behind this amazing rebuilding effort, Jessica, myself and our entire team understand how lucky we are to get to share their stories with the wider world, and what a great chance we have, together with those individuals, to inspire America and renew that spirit of good will that was so universal on 9/12.

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.