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.

The Korean War may be considered “The Forgotten War,” but it brought us an unforgettable hero. During the war, Lieutenant Chew-Een Lee, the first commissioned U.S. Marine regular officer of Chinese descent, battled communism, injuries, hypothermia and racism to help 8,000 U.S. Marines stave off certain capture at the hands of the enemy. Lt. Lee’s remarkable story is told in a Smithsonian Channel original special, UNCOMMON COURAGE: BREAKOUT AT CHOSIN, premiering this Memorial Day, Monday, May 31 at 8pm ET/PT.

Prior to the Korean War, the idea of an Asian American leading a U.S. Marine platoon on the battlefield would have been unthinkable. Just a few years earlier in World War II, Japanese Americans had been placed in internment camps and racial segregation was still the rule in most of the United States. Lt. Lee, who would eventually rise to the rank of Major, ushered in a new era in American military history. His story is more than one of breaking barriers; it is a story of courage, grit and dogged determination. Through rare archival footage of the war and exclusive interviews with Lt. Lee and the men who served with him, Uncommon Courage recounts the extraordinary story of one of the key moments of the Korean War, the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

“The heroism of the Marines at the Chosin Reservoir is one of the legendary moments in U.S. military history,” said David Royle, Executive Vice President, Programming and Production, for Smithsonian Channel. “But the story of Major Lee is not only one of outstanding bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, it is also about his courage in overcoming racial discrimination. He is a true American hero from a largely forgotten war, a Chinese American whose significance transcends his military heroism and is even greater than he might realize.”

The one-hour special also looks at the Chinese experience in America, examining typical American attitudes toward Asians at the time, through the eyes of Lt. Lee and his men. Their stories all come together when they meet for the first time at Camp Pendleton, California, just two weeks before shipping out to Korea. Lt. Lee was the untested Marine officer and his green recruits had never spoken with a Chinese man, much less taken orders from one.
Joe Owen, one of the Marines who served under Lt. Lee, offered this tribute: “We started out a company full of untrained reservists and misfits and at the end… we considered ourselves to be the best God-damned rifle company in the Marine Corps. And we attribute it to the example, the ideals, set by Chew-Een Lee.”

After the Korean War, Lt. Lee would rise to the rank of Major and draw on his experiences to train a new generation of Marine Corps officers.

Science Channel announced today that Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg will join forces with the network, DreamWorks Television and KPI Productions to create the definitive documentary series about the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site in New York City.  Under the agreement, Spielberg will serve as executive producer and creative advisor on REBUILDING GROUND ZERO (wt), a six-part television event set to premiere on Science Channel in 2011.

The brainchild of professional architect Danny Forster (host and producer of Science Channel’s BUILD IT BIGGER) and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Hock, REBUILDING GROUND ZERO (wt) will chronicle the uplifting, innovative reengineering of the World Trade Center site through the eyes of the people – architects, engineers, construction workers and city planners – charged with making One World Trade Center and its surrounding area a reality.  Their amazing story is one of inventive architectural design and brand new science powered by an emotional determination to help heal their wounds, their city and their country.