Evolution Media Ups Alex Baskin To President; Hires Rabih Gholam As EVP Development

Denise Petski

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Evolution Media, an MGM company (The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, Vanderpump Rules, Botched), has promoted Alex Baskin to President and hired industry veteran Rabih Gholam as Executive Vice President, Development. Gholam reports directly to Baskin and will be responsible for creating and developing new projects.

“As Evolution Media continues to grow and produce outstanding content, it is essential to have leaders in place that have the experience and mind for strategy that will propel the company to even greater heights,” said Barry Poznick, MGM’s President, Unscripted Television. “With Alex and his partner, Douglas Ross, continuing to steer the ship and with the recent hire of Rabih, an experienced, smart and focused executive, there is nowhere for this team to go but up.”

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Evolution Media is behind such unscripted hits as The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Real Housewives of Orange County, Vanderpump Rules and Botched, and new series The Hills: New Beginnings for MTV, which recently premiered as 2019’s second-highest rated cable premiere among young adults.

As President, Baskin, will continue to work hand-in-hand with Ross, also President, to lead the company, setting overall strategy and overseeing day-to-day operations and the development team, while also providing creative oversite for all Evolution Media productions. Baskin will continue to report directly into Poznick. Baskin joined Evolution in 2006 and has been an executive producer on more than 30 series.

Gholam joins Evolution Media from Studio 71, where he started the company’s unscripted division to develop content for talent on platforms including Facebook, CW, Food Network, iTunes, Snapchat, A&E, MTV and YouTube Red. Prior to Studio 71, he served as EVP of Ryan Seacrest Productions, where he helped with series including Becoming Us (ABC Family), I Love Kellie Pickler (CMT), Best.Cover.Ever (YouTube), and Sugar and Sparks (Cooking Channel). He began his career in NBC’s Page Program, working on NBC late night shows including Later, Friday Night, and SNL: Best of…, and eventually going to work for The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn at CBS and Talkshow with Spike Feresten at Fox. He went on to produce a string of highly successful, groundbreaking series including The Surreal Life, The Mole, and Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Additionally, he worked as an Executive Producer at MTV on pop culture classics including the original The Hills.

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