Two-time Emmy Award-nominated producer Phil Viardo’s extensive career in the entertainment industry spans decades and various professional posts prior to production becoming his ultimate focus.
Phil first launched The Viardo Agency in Los Angeles in 2001, a company which quickly gained reputation as a respected name in the fast-paced world of Hollywood dealmakers, representing companies such as Madonna’s Maverick Films, RAW Entertainment, Trigger Street Productions and other production entities, plus a number of popular lifestyle brands like Von Dutch, Antik Denim, and Ed Hardy among others.
Viardo expanded his operations to include production and talent management with the launch of Viardo Artists in 2009, representing clients like Christopher Knight ("The Brady Bunch"), singer Blu Cantrell and renowned TV host George Gray ("The Price Is Right") to name a few. Several years later, he partnered with a veteran Emmy award-winning ProdCo, Natural 9 Entertainment, making a major focus pivot to production and content creation.
Over the following 8 years, Viardo grew the company’s slate with numerous projects, that include several award-winning television series for ABC, The CW, WEtv, A+E, FYI, National Geographic, GSN and Univision resulting in hundreds of aired episodes. To date, Phil has been responsible for creating development slate of over 100 documentary, nonfiction and scripted projects, including the documentary feature film “Public Enemy Number One,” co-produced with legendary artist and actor Ice T, that took top honors at numerous festivals including the Seattle Film Festival in 2019 and is currently available on all major streaming platforms. Years of creativity have also brought Viardo behind the camera, directing projects for SyFy, Hulu, Oxygen, Univision as well as several independent film and television titles as well as numerous commercials.
In 2019, in a quest to take his creative endeavors to the next level, Viardo teamed up with longtime friend and associate, American TV icon Christopher Knight, to launch Former Prodigy Media. Out of the gate, the company landed development deals with top US Networks and began developing yet another robust slate of documentary and scripted TV and film projects.
In 2022 Former Prodigy released their debut documentary feature “Truelove: The Film” directed by Viardo, about a rare genetic disorder called Williams syndrome, that took the film festival circuit by storm, winning at the 2022 Beverly Hills Film Festival, 2022 California Independent Film Festival and 2022 Awareness Film Festivals among others. The film premiered on VOD and OTT platforms in North America, Europe, Australia, Central and South America and Asia in September of 2023. Also that year, Viardo and Former Prodigy released the critically-acclaimed animated feature film “The Inventor”, from the Oscar-nominated writer/director, Jim Capobianco (“Ratatouille”), starring Stephen Frye, Daisy Ridley and Marion Cotillard, released theatrically in the US in abroad in 2023/2024 and widely touted as an Oscar-contender. Viardo is also the Executive Producer on “Hellfire Club,” a feature written by Oscar-winning scribe Jeffrey Hatcher (“The Duchess”, “Casanova”), produced by Brian Oliver (“Black Swan”, “Top Gun: Maverick”).
Viardo’s current slate is packed with Former Prodigy’s live action films, starting with a rom-com short "Emma's Dilemmas," starring Ciara Hanna ("Power Rangers: MegaForce"), Amy Carlson ("Blue Bloods") and Drew Moerlein ("Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra") currently playing the festival circuit around the globe; a creature feature “Monstrosity,” from writer/director Robert Rippberger; action comedy “The Empresario,” horror feature “Toxic,” and coming-of-age drama “The Heart Will Break,” all heading into production in 2025, among other narrative and documentary film and tv projects currently in development.