Rudy Bednar

Rudy Bednar is an Executive Producer and Director. A multi-award-winning storyteller for scripted and non-fiction network television, he served as head of the ABC News Long-Form Unit from 1997 until 2013 before becoming a founding member of ABC's Lincoln Square Productions, the news division's venture into factual scripted drama. His work for ABC News took him from the North Pole to North Korea, from the Amazon to the Arctic Circle; investigating the effects of Chernobyl's radioactive fallout on reindeer herds in Lapland, searching for clues in the terrorist bombings of Pan Am 103 over Scotland and the Twin Towers above Wall Steeet, documenting Richard Leakey's controversial shoot-to-kill crusade to end elephant poaching in Africa, alone on the ground filming the politically charged crisis in Tibet, together with the Gates Foundation a year look at solving the most pressing global health challenges, and on a worldwide trek with Leonardo DiCaprio examining the causes and potential cures for the earth's rising tempature. EP and Director credits include: The Assets (2014), a true-spy thriller with Jodi Whittaker for ABC TV and Netflix; Madoff (2016), with Richard Dreyfuss playing the notorious financier for ABC TV; and The Lost Wife of Robert Durst (2017), with Katharine McPhee as Kathie Durst, for Lifetime. Bednar's ABC docuseries and docudramas include: Final Witness, Hopkins 24/7, Turning Point, NASCAR in Primetime, Medical Mysteries, Vanished, The Staircase (as co-EP with Maha Films); and documentaries about Princess Diana, Vladimir Putin, Charles Manson, Billy Graham, The Beatles, space shuttle Challenger, Ebola, and ISIS. ABC Network Specials featuring Michael J. Fox, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Melody Hobson, Will Smith, Christopher Reeve, David Blaine; and concert broadcasts with Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Andra Day and Elton John. Listed in Who's Who in America, Bednar has earned eleven News and Documentary Emmys; four DuPonts; two Peabody awards; two Cine Golden Eagle's; and has twice been nominated for Primetime Emmys. In 2019, he launched his production company, Silver Needle Films.