Magical Elves Inc :: About Us

Since its formation in the summer of 2001 Magical Elves has developed and produced shows for NBC, ABC, Bravo and HBO.

After a successful collaboration on the Emmy-nominated reality show Bands on the Run, Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth formed Magical Elves to exploit their diverse backgrounds and varied experience to create innovative and entertaining entertainment that would always strive to entertain. And innovate.

Dan and Jane have extensive experience in all facets of development and production across every genre of television from scripted drama and comedy to reality and documentaries, to talk, game and panel shows. They bring passion, commitment and a love of fine dining to every project they undertake.

DAN CUTFORTH

I will not insult your intelligence by pretending that our PR company researched and wrote my biography. It seems more honest to write in the first person, even if it sounds less humble and more pompous.

I was born, in the shadow of Stonehenge, to a farming family in rural England. My TV career began in 1990 when I joined the BBC as a researcher.

In 1992 I helped start up Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast, and a year later I left to take my first producer position when I created Barry’s Joypad, a video game magazine show for Sky TV.

In 1994 I decided to exploit my dual national status and moved to New York to head up the US office of British Production Company Planet 24. Two years of traveling the US interviewing movie stars and hanging out on the set of rock videos eventually became tiresome and I accepted an offer to come to LA to get my feet back under a desk in a development role for Planet 24 and Buena Vista Television. The first development project I worked on was Survive! The networks all passed on the show, but the format was bought by a Swedish broadcaster, and that was the last I heard of the show. Until it was bought by CBS and snappily re-titled Survivor.

After developing some other formats of equal brilliance that never sold here, but are household names in Scandinavia, I was asked to take a job as consulting producer on The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show. I worked on the start-up and launch of the show. Initially it looked like being a big hit: “ …Bursts onto the screen like a bullet train headed to Funkytown!” raved Variety. I left the show in the summer of 1997 and returned to the UK to revamp and re-launch The Big Breakfast. Ratings soared and my work was done, so I returned to Los Angeles and went freelance.

Following two seasons as a Producer on Whose Line is it Anyway? I was lured to VH1 to develop a late night strip. While working on that pilot I pitched the concept that would become Bands on the Run, and began work on the show in the spring of 1999. In the summer of 2001 BOTR was nominated for an Emmy. To the surprise of many, the show was ignored by the academy in favor of Survivor. Oh, the irony. Jane and I formalized our partnership and started Magical Elves Inc. when we went to develop The Runner. The rest is TV history, and is recounted on the front page of this bio, although I should bring attention to the fact that we have been nominated four times for Emmys in the 5 years we have been producing shows together. We definitely don’t like to make a big deal about it. The fact that we have been nominated four times.

In 2005 I stopped speaking in the first person, and adopted a third person approach. He continues to use it to this day.

JANE LIPSITZ

Jane grew up on the mean streets of New York’s Upper West Side. She credits her education in the school of hard knocks as the source of her hunger and drive. Jane’s entrée into show business came in the early '90s when she made a name for herself, as the worst assistant ever to grace the music division of ICM. In her spare time she managed a rock band called Gimme the Gun. I’ve never heard of them either.

Fed up with a life of making coffee and copies by day and propping up the bar at seedy rock dives by night, Jane turned her back on the ten-percenters to take up a position at Polygram Diversified Entertainment where she developed and marketed television, concert and theatrical productions. The highlight of her tenure was four days spent mired in the mud of Woodstock ’94, producing 44 hours of live television for pay per view. She survived the ordeal thanks to two weapons that would become her trademark: An appetite for hard work and enormous clumpy boots. These assets would soon attract the attention of VH1.

In 1995 Jane joined VH1’s development team as a freelance producer. Over the next five years she would work her way through the ranks to the position of Senior Vice President of Development and Production. Jane developed and oversaw production of literally hundreds of shows, including My Generation, Rock & Roll Jeopardy (Jeff Probst owes her his career) and Pop Up Video.

Los Angeles beckoned, and in 1999 Jane took over West Coast Development and Production for VH1. There, in deference to the warmer climate, she added the colors brown, powder blue and dark brown to her predominantly black wardrobe and she developed and Executive Produced shows including The List, Random Play, Fan Club, Strange Frequency and Bands on the Run. Jane’s involvement in every stage of development and production of as many as 30 projects at a time in every genre, including reality, comedy, drama, documentary and animation, gave her experience that few could match, and helped cement relationships with talent, agencies, management and production companies on both coasts. She is on first name terms with Gene Simmons.

As Bands on the Run was wrapping in the summer of 2001 Jane and Dan formed Magical Elves, and joined Michael Davies as series producers of The Runner for ABC.