World-Class Talent. Every Project.
DZ3
A worldwide leader in innovative unscripted content and complex global production, with three decades of award-winning competition and adventure television delivered across 78 countries and six continents. Founded by veteran executive producer Mark Dziak (multiple Emmy, DGA, and PGA nominations), DZ3 was purpose-built as a leaner, nimbler production entity following Mark's run helping lead the companies behind perennial Emmy winner The Amazing Race and one of the top non-scripted formats of all time, Survivor.
Mark's credits include The Quest (ABC, winner of two 2022 Emmys), The Amazing Race in its U.S., Canada, Asia, Australia, China, Israel, and Finland editions, Big Brother (instrumental in the series' early success), Oprah's Big Give, The Great Escape (TNT), Take the Money and Run (ABC), Shotgun (NBC Sports), Race to the Center of the Earth (National Geographic), Whale Wars (Animal Planet), the original Top Gear pilot for NBC, and dozens more.
FIRELIGHT Animation
Studio pedigree, independent scale, and a franchise focus, with a fully developed slate of originals. Built by four founding partners with extensive backgrounds across Netflix, Disney, Marvel, Riot Games, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Pokémon, Red Bull, and Blizzard Entertainment.
​
Led by CEO Berni López alongside Brent Homman, 17-year Disney veteran and Animation Director who oversaw animation on the Oscar-winning Big Hero 6 and the Oscar-nominated Moana. Brent leads the creative direction on Firelight's flagship project (soon to be announced).
The broader Firelight team has contributed to blockbuster hits including Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.92B global), Super Mario Bros ($1.36B global), KDA (Riot Games), SpongeBob (Nickelodeon), and WonDia (Apple TV). The studio's original slate in active development includes feature films Avyanna, Slow & Teddy, and Pawfect Wash, as well as edgy adult animation series Brainless Spike.
​
FIRST STREET Films
The production banner of Emmy-winning producer Bill Borden, whose career spans franchise family entertainment, action blockbusters, music-driven dramas, and international co-productions. Bill's signature credits include the High School Musical franchise (Disney's $4+ billion global phenomenon, for which he won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program on High School Musical 2).
Borden's feature film producing credits include Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow's genre-defining hit), Desperado (Robert Rodriguez with Antonio Banderas), La Bamba, Mission: Impossible III, Get on the Bus (Spike Lee), Meet the Robinsons (Disney), End of Days (Schwarzenegger), Against All Odds, White Nights, and Alien Nation, with location and production management roles on National Lampoon's Vacation, Stripes, Midnight Run, and History of the World: Part I.
Across 40+ years in the business, First Street Films has delivered hits across studio, independent, and international production at every scale.
NO ONE ELSE Media
A boutique podcast production company founded in 2020 by veteran executive producer Conal O'Herlihy, p.g.a., leveraging Hollywood-caliber television talent to create premium narrative audio. The company produces across genres spanning Social Impact, True Crime, Historical, Military, and branded content, built on the principle that great audio IP can serve as proof of concept for screen (sculpting the narrative while pre-growing an audience).
​
Conal's 25+ year career in broadcast television includes executive producing non-fiction series for History Channel, Discovery Network, National Geographic, TLC, NBC, and the Military Channel, international work for Universal Studios Japan (writing and producing TV specials featuring Gene Hackman, Steven Spielberg, and Arnold Schwarzenegger), production on the launch team of Deal Or No Deal with Howie Mandel. Released and active No One Else Media podcasts include The Hollywood Interview, Ladies Take The Lead, Treasure Detective, and Clash: A History of Military Conflict.
The Current Runs Deep
Not wish lists — not conversations — committed and creatively engaged. These are not names we're chasing. They are partners who are in.
And here's the fun part — this is just what's on the active slate right now. We are working producers with deep relationships across every corner of this industry. Great projects come to us every day. There is no shortage of extraordinary material out there. What there is a shortage of is the experience to know which projects are actually viable for the current market — and the discipline to say no to the ones that aren't. That combination of access, judgment, and execution is the Sweet Tides difference.