The Life of an Executive Producer and Director – Randy Douthit

Douthit is an executive producer and director, popularly known for his success with national TV shows: Judge Judy, Crossfire, and Larry King Live. He’s also working on a fourth one, Judy Justice which is already garnering top ratings.

He first saw a television at his grandparents’ house, and that’s when he got inspired to be the person behind the show. At that time he was four years old and five years later, he was already selling “Variety Show” tickets. Randy had produced this show in his grandparents’ barn. At 19, he was offered a job at a local TV station. His professional career began at the age of 23, when he started directing at KGW. Later on, he was directing “How Come”, the Peabody Award-winning program. He appeared on Seattle Today, a morning talk show aired daily, and this grew How Come’s audience ten times.

Randy Douthit Joins CNN

Randy joined CNN while it was a young product. He began as the executive producer of “Crossfire” one of the top shows back then. He also produced the “Capital Gang”, a weekly news panel program. The two programs won CableAce Awards, a proof of how good Randy was at his work.

He conceived the idea of Larry King Live in 1985, produced it and the show earned the Peabody Award for Primetime. Of all the work he has done, he is especially proud for the show “Judge Judy”, which won the Emmy Award three times.

The Digital Evolution

With things changing after the pandemic, producers and directors also had to adapt to the new norms. For instance, Randy says that CNN now does interviews via satellite, send and receive a digital signal, edit the show and share it by email. He gives an example of producing the fledging CNN, stating how it was different, with guests reporting from around the world. Nowadays producers don’t need too many people on the exact location. All you need is a cameraman, who is also a tech guy, and a reporter to get the story and send it back home. Randy finds this interesting and even after decades of experience in his field, he still expects the unexpected.

Douthit is an executive producer and director, popularly known for his success with national TV shows: Judge Judy, Crossfire, and Larry King Live. He’s also working on a fourth one, Judy Justice which is already garnering top ratings. He first saw a television at his grandparents’ house, and that’s when he got inspired to be…