How Arthur Smith Used The Power Of Reach To Start His Own Television Production Company

Given my penchant for the nonfiction programming category (aka reality), I was particularly interested in reading the book Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television, by Arthur Smith. Mr. Smith is already a familiar name as the producer of Hell’s Kitchen, American Ninja Warrior and Trading Spaces, among the countless other nonfiction entries under his banner, A. Smith & Co. Productions. So, I was naturally curious to hear about the path he traveled to get to where he is today. But what made this an immediate “must read” for me came right in the middle of the second paragraph on the first page.

“I wanted to work in the entertainment business. I loved television most of all,” wrote Smith. “I was a child of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and I used to sit for hours in front of the set, watching reruns, game shows, and old movies. I watched everything: Gilligan’s Island, Happy Days, All in the Family, Dallas, and as an avid fan of sports, I especially loved Hockey Night in Canada – but also, strangely (for a ten-year-old), a steady diet of 60 Minutes and national news.”

Personally, I am not a sports fan. Nor was I watching 60 Minutes then (or now actually). And while I was also not necessarily “tearing through the Montreal Gazette every Saturday for the syndicated “TV Times” supplement,” as Smith continued (TV Guide was my option), I knew I would not be able to put down Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television. And I predict the same reaction from you whether you are a self-proclaimed TV addict like myself or just plain interested in a story of how love and support, inspiration and determination, and the power of positive ambition and enthusiasm can positively fulfill anything you reach for.

“I am very grateful for the life that I’ve had, and every time there is an opportunity for me to talk to young people, whether I am lecturing at a university or doing something at my alma mater, or what have you, I always talk about the power of reach,” said Smith in an interview. “I always talk about the power of extending yourself; of putting yourself out there. You only realize your full potential if you reach beyond what you think you can do.”

“When you are in your early 20s, you don’t necessarily know what exactly you want to do. But my advice is to take your best guess and just go for it,” he added. “If you have an idea of what you want to do, even if it is something that you think is beyond your grasp, just do it. The worst thing to do, at any age, is to just sit there, be stuck in neutral, and just ponder.”

Written by an individual who has never stopped reaching in his own life and career, Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television by Arthur Smith (which goes on sale on June 6) is a testimonial to the belief that nothing is out of reach if you strive for it.

From the Beginning

Born in 1959 and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Arthur Smith’s path in the field of media began as a disc jockey at age 16 in Montreal and in front of the camera, both in commercials and as an actor in the 1980 teenage-comedy films Pinball Summer and Hog Wild.

Majoring in communications at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, Smith made guest appearances at the time in the Canadian TV comedies Hangin’ In and Flappers, did voice-overs for commercials, and got his first taste of production as a segment producer for the CBC Radio’s Variety Tonight. He also was the lead in the summer stock production of the play Deathtrap. After graduating at the top of his class, Smith began work at age 22 as a CBC Sports producer.

“I got a great education in the control room, but little did I know that all that time in front of the camera as an actor would help me in my work as a producer working with talent – a lesson in taking advantage of every opportunity that presents itself,” he writes in the book about his experience on the Hangin’ In and Flappers sets.

By age 28, and following a resume as a producer for various sporting events around the world (including the Calgary Olympics and the Seoul Olympics, both in 1988), he was made head of CBC Sports.

“When I was producing at CBC Sports, I was happy and satisfied creatively. When I became the head of CBS Sports, it was a big thing and a great opportunity, but I was not as happy because I wasn’t producing,” he said when we spoke. “People saw that I could run a division or be a senior executive at a company, but it really wasn’t what I wanted to do.”

Not resting on his laurels, Smith reached again and relocated to Los Angeles as the senior vice president of Dick Clark Productions.

“I’d made my bones in television working at CBC Sports, so this shift from sports programming in Canada to entertainment programming in the United States was a reach and a departure for me,” he writes in the book. “But I was determined to grow my game and push myself in a new direction.”

After four years of working with the legendary Dick Clark, Smith exited to become senior vice president at the MCA Universal Television Group in 1994, where he worked on program development. Then, in 1996, he segued to the fledgling FOX Sports Network, where he launched and oversaw the programming of 22 sports networks.

“Dick Clark and I had an agreement that whatever I developed, I would produce as well,” wrote Smith. “Frankly, this is what I do best, but at Universal, there was no room in the studio for an executive to do both. In this corporate environment, my primary job was to make money, so once our projects got sold, it was on me to develop and sell something else.”

“Deep down, I knew this going in, but the chance to work at a studio at such a top-level was too good to turn down,” he added. “Sometimes when you reach, you realize the thing you’re chasing is not the thing you really want.”

Flash to 2000, when his firm, A. Smith & Co. Productions, was formed.

“This was the biggest reach of my life because I had a long-term deal with FOX Sports, who was extremely good to me,” he said when we spoke. “I had two young daughters, and I left with no commitments and no real strategic plan other than my being a producer and my belief that people would hire me.”

“I knew I couldn’t work any longer in a corporate environment, so I set out to create a company where the focus would simply be on making great television – where we could develop a wide variety of projects in the nonfiction and entertainment event space,” he wrote. “In my mind, I was hoping I would make half of what I was making at FOX. As it turned out, in year one, I would be making double. But I didn’t make the move for money. My reaches have always been based on my passion for creating and producing.”

A. Smith & Company Productions

Partnering with Kent Weed, a director Smith hired while working with Dick Clark to direct a show he created for NBC, When Stars Were Kids, A. Smith & Co. Productions was immediately off and running after FOX ordered 60 episodes of the video sports clips show You Gotta See This, which Smith created and did a pilot for there.

Ultimately, A. Smith & Co. went on to produce 200 episodes of You Gotta See This. Flash to the present and the roster of programs, past and present (and in addition to Hell’s Kitchen, American Ninja Warrior and Trading Spaces), includes The Titan Games, The Floor is Lava, Mental Samurai, Welcome to Plathville, Unsung, Kitchen Nightmares, American Gangster, The Swan, Pros vs Joes, I Survived a Japanese Game Show, Ellen’s Design Challenge, The NFL Pro Bowl Games, Skating with Celebrities and Paradise Hotel. Veteran American Ninja Warrior opens its new season on NBC on Monday, June 5.

“If you look at the company, we are all over the place. Relationship shows, game shows, sports, and lifestyle series; everything in the nonfiction space,” he said. “When I look back at my trail, I was a producer, the head of a sports division, a studio executive, I worked for a production company, and I ran a network. And, each experience prepared me to pursue my greatest reach.”

“Writing the book is part of the latest chapter of my life,” noted Smith, who is donating all proceeds from the book towards the non-profit REACH Foundation he created. “I want to continue to do what I do, but I want to focus a lot of my time on mentoring and developing the young. It is easier to reach if you reach from a strong foundation, and my foundation was my parents. Like any parent, they were worried about every move I made, particularly when I went out on my own. But once I committed to something, I knew I had their support. And they instilled the mindset in me to always reach back and help.”

From Gordon Ramsay and Magic Johnson, to Little Richard and Simon Cowell, to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the legendary actor Marlon Brando, not to mention Donald Trump (pre-presidency and regarding a proposed show with Trump that did not move forward), Reach: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television will keep you entertained about the inside stories of working in the entertainment field. It will inspire you to reach for anything you too want to pursue. And, more importantly, it will inspire you to extend that reach to help others. That is the lesson I personally learned from reading about the truths in Arthur Smith’s lifetime in television.