44 Blue Productions
Lee Straus is an experienced executive in the entertainment industry, with a background in business and legal affairs. Currently serving as the Executive Vice President and Head of Business and Legal Affairs at 44 Blue Productions, as well as the Head of Business and Legal Affairs at Words + Pictures. Lee is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, teaching classes related to business and legal affairs for television programming. With previous roles at companies like NBC Entertainment and Buena Vista Television, Lee has extensive experience in negotiating deals and overseeing the development and production of various television programs. Lee holds a JD from Loyola Law School and a BA in Film/Television Production from the University of Southern California.
44 Blue Productions
Founded by Rasha Drachkovitch and Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch, unscripted powerhouse 44 Blue Productions is an award-winning producer of non-fiction and unscripted content whose series have aired on more than 20 domestic television networks and in more than 120 countries worldwide. As influencers of this storied generation of unscripted programming, 44 Blue’s creativity and sensibilities have made their mark on the nonfiction television landscape for decades. Currently, the company has more than 20 projects in active production, including the industry’s deepest slate of celeb-reality programming, from successful series with Mark Wahlberg, Donnie Wahlberg and Jenny McCarthy (A&E’s twice Emmy®-nominated “Wahlburgers” and “Donnie Loves Jenny”), to upcoming projects with Whoopi Goldberg (Oxygen’s “Strut” and Amazon’s “Sugarplum Ballerinas”), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions (“Rock and a Hard Place”). 44 Blue’s impressive slate of groundbreaking series also includes A&E’s top-rated “Nightwatch,” the “TD Jakes Talk Show” for first-run syndication, MSNBC’S critically acclaimed “Lockup” and its trio of spinoff series “Lockup: Raw,” “Lockup: World Tour” and “Life After Lockup;” Animal Planet’s long-running “Pit Bulls & Parolees,” BET/Centric’s “According to Alex,” Style’s Emmy® nominated “Split Ends,” Spike’s “Deadliest Warrior,” OWN’s Gracie Award winning “Married to the Army: Alaska,” and Emmy®-nominated “Family Court with Judge Penny.” 44 Blue’s rich history of innovative storytelling crosses multiple broadcast, cable, first-run syndication and digital platforms. In 2015 44 Blue launched Ovrture, a virtual reality content studio that is breaking new ground in immersive fiction and nonfiction storytelling. 44 Blue is represented by the William Morris Endeavor Agency.