Producer Helps Make TV’s ‘The Biggest Loser’ A Winner

January 25, 2009 by John Rook

In the spring of 2002, Cheshire resident Adam Kaloustian graduated from Quinnipiac University ready to start life in the working world.
There was only one problem: he didn’t know what it was he actually wanted to do.
His interests varied from a passion for music to involvement in some area of the communications field, but he remained uncertain until a move to the West Coast put his feet on the right path.
“My girlfriend said that she had some contacts in Orange County (California) and asked me to move out there with her,” remembered Kaloustian. “I was hesitant at first. I’m an East Coast guy, but I eventually decided to move.”
It turned out to be the best decision of his life.
Kaloustian, 28, is the senior producer of the popular NBC show The Biggest Loser — a reality television show that follows contestants as they try to lose weight in order to win a grand prize.
The show first aired in 2004, and it has built a large following who tune in each week to watch contestants compete in challenges and participate in intense workout routines.
Kaloustian has been working on the show since 2007, and he has risen through the ranks to become one of the most important producers on set.
“I am right below the co-executive producer and above all the other producers on the show,” explained Kaloustian. “I am at the ranch 100 percent of the time.”
His position as senior producer is a long way from where he started in 2003, when, by his own admission, he only expected to remain on the West Coast for a limited time.
Each passing week seemed to find Kaloustian calling home, complaining about California and the lack of opportunities he was finding. “I would call my mother screaming, saying ‘I hate it here. Nothing is happening. What am I going to do?’ And, my parents would say ‘it has only been three weeks,’” recalled Kaloustian, laughing at the memory.
But, Kaloustian set up his own employment plan, trying to make at least 10 phone calls and send 10 emails a day, in his search for someone who would give him an opportunity to showcase his abilities.
“Trust me, most people never even responded,” he admitted.
However, towards the end of 2003, Kaloustian received a call from a local production company, asking if he could come and work on the set of a show for one day. Kaloustian jumped at the chance and, from that one day of work, Kaloustian was offered an opportunity to work full-time.
“I was really the lowest of the low,” said Kaloustian. “I would get coffee for people, and I would go on errands. That was the job.”
But Kaloustian knew that, in order to stand out, he had to do more than just meet the requirements of his position.
“I would follow the producers around to try and learn more,” said Kaloustian. “I would offer to help the camera guys wrap up cable. Anything I could do, I would do.”
“I knew that one day could mean everything for me,” he stated. “One day, someone could be looking at me and asking, ‘Hey, who’s that guy?’”
Over the course of a year, Kaloustian worked his way up, becoming more involved in the actual production of different shows. He worked on several smaller cable shows, such as Blowout and Shear Genius, both of which aired for a short time on Bravo.
However, in 2007, a contact Kaloustian had at 3Ball Productions — a large production firm that produces several network shows — offered Kaloustian the opportunity to work on The Biggest Loser.
“I had been a fan of the show before going to work there,” said Kaloustian. “I really wanted the chance to work on the show.”
As senior producer, Kaloustian is responsible for coordinating the segments filmed each day. There is no “normal” day on set, he said, as the show demands a different schedule depending on what is planned. One day, the production crew might spend their time filming the different competitions in which the contestants participate. Other days, crews might film the contestants’ daily life and workout routines.
“It is long hours,” admitted Kaloustian. ‘Sometimes, they are 14-hour days.”
As the crew is filming, Kaloustian and his production team look for moments that will captivate an audience and, they hope, inspire people at home to begin to live a healthy lifestyle.
“When you are looking at footage, you have an idea of what you will use and what you won’t,” he said. “But there’s no
recipe. We are just always looking for scenes to which people will relate.”
Working on the show has also allowed Kaloustian to form bonds with both his co-workers and former cast members because, as he puts it, “all of us go through it together.”
“We are with each other for long days and a lot of hours,” said Kaloustian. “I have been doing this since Season Four, and I still talk to people who were on that show. These people are changing both emotionally and physically, so we all definitely become friends.”
It has been a quick ascension from his initial stint of getting coffee and running errands to becoming the senior producer on a popular television show, but Kaloustian doesn’t allow himself time to look back at his accomplishments. “I was even asking my parents, why would someone want to talk to me? I didn’t create the show,” he laughed.
But, for the future, the Cheshire native hopes to continue moving forward and exploring new opportunities, no matter what they might be.
“I don’t have a definite goal,” said Kaloustian. “Maybe, one day, I could be creating my own shows or starting my own production company, but we will see. I think you have to go where life takes you and live day by day. That is what life is all about.”