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Erica Forstadt, director on Brett Morgen’s 2008 Peabody Award-winning Sundance Channel series Nimrod Nation, began her career in television as an intern for Yo! MTV Raps in 1995.
An ensuing seven-year stretch with MTV Networks proved prolific as Erica swiftly rose to Segment Producer, then was tapped by a Development Executive to spearhead the original MTV series Diary, in 1999.
Erica would go on to produce, direct, and personally film over 27 episodes of this
As a Producer/Director in MTV’s Music and Talent Development division, Erica also contributed extensively to the development, production, and direction of shows such as MTV Jammed, MTV Treatment, MTV Icon, Album Launch, and Jennifer Lopez: Beyond the Runway.
In 2004, Erica was awarded the coveted assignment to direct and produce MTV’s “Choose to Vote”PSA segment for the Superbowl XXXVII Halftime show. Featuring Tom Cruise, Chris Rock, Julia Roberts, and Muhammed Ali, the star-studded piece reached an estimated audience of 140 million viewers worldwide.
In that same year, Erica also successfully pitched the series Borrow My Crew, an original MTV comedy she co-created, developed, produced, and directed. Erica’s vision attracted music and entertainment mogul Sean Combs, who signed on to Executive Produce the series.
One of Erica’s most exciting achievements with MTV was directing 2004’s special, Jammed, which documented U2’s historic traveling performance from Harlem to Brooklyn, culminating in a surprise concert beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Erica was then recruited by the band’s management to direct a behind-the-scenes documentary of U2’s record-breaking “Vertigo” Tour, which was featured on the Concerts Dual Disc DVD.
In 2005, under the close tutelage of acclaimed directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, Erica contributed to the debut season of Iconoclasts as a producer/show-runner. In the course of collaborating on the look and structure of this hit Sundance Channel series, Erica would work with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Christiane Amanpour, and Jeff Koons among other luminaries.
In addition to Nimrod Nation, recent projects also include directing and producing the first season of Mojo HD’s After Hours With Daniel Boulud; creating the video model for Conde Nast’s Style.com and Men.Style.com web-based original programming; documentary work for leading non-profits the PEN Organization and Children for Children; and directing human rights pieces for the special awards program CNN Heroes. Her direction of select online segments for Style.com and Men.Style.com garnered Erica a 2008 Emmy nomination in the Advanced Media category.
Beyond television, Erica’s work as a photographer is featured in the published collection Diary, from MTV Books; she also received a studio assignment from Walmart’s online SoundCheck series to shoot a portrait of recording artist Sheryl Crow.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Erica lives in New York City.
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