IDA Appoints New Board Members Aaron Saidman and Vinnie Malhotra

(Los Angeles, CA) - The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced the appointment of Aaron Saidman and Vinnie Malhotra as new members of its Board of Directors. Saidman is the Co-Founder & President of The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC), as well as the President of Industrial Media. Malhotra is the SVP of Documentaries, Unscripted, and Sports Programming at Showtime Networks.

“We are thrilled that Aaron Saidman and Vinnie Malhotra have joined the IDA board of directors,” said Simon Kilmurry, executive director of IDA. “Their expertise and storied track records in documentary are incredible assets as we keep building IDA into the organization that supports a healthy and thriving documentary field.”

As the Emmy® and PGA Award-winning President of IPC, Saidman oversees the company’s diverse slate of series, pilots and feature documentary projects across broadcast, cable and the major streaming services. An Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning executive, Malhotra oversees the development and production of Showtime Networks’ slate of original unscripted and documentary programming, as well as all documentary theatrical releases.

Saidman shares “I am truly honored to join the Board. There has never been a more exciting time in the nonfiction space, and so I look forward to helping the IDA advance and support this form of storytelling, and to advocate for the rights of documentary filmmakers all over the world.” said Saidman.

Malhotra adds “Under the stewardship of Simon Kilmurry, the IDA is growing as an influential and important resource for filmmakers across the globe and I am honored to serve on the board of such an esteemed organization.  It is inspiring to be a part of a team that helps to champion those efforts.” 

Saidman launched IPC in January 2016, and soon thereafter went into production on its inaugural series, A&E’s Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Saidman produced the show, which was the highest rated cable premiere of 2016, won the Emmy® for Outstanding Informational Series in 2017 and received another Emmy® nomination for its second season in 2018. Saidman won a PGA Award for the first and second seasons of Aftermath for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television. He also produced the limited series, Active Shooter: America Under Fire, which was nominated for a 2018 News & Documentary Emmy® Award for Best Social Issue Documentary. Before launching IPC, Saidman was the Executive Vice President, Development & Current Programming, for All3Media America, where he produced numerous unscripted series and two documentary features, The Seven Five and Operation Odessa. Prior to his position at All3Media, Saidman was the head of development and current programming for Studio Lambert USA, where he helped grow the company into a major supplier of unscripted content, overseeing and producing such shows as CBS’ Undercover Boss and AMC’s The Pitch.

Malhotra has overseen the production of the SHOWTIME® real-time, political documentary series, The Circus, the acclaimed docu-series The Trade, which follows the opioid epidemic and The Fourth Estate which examines the inner workings of The New York Times during President Donald J. Trump’s first year in office. He has been instrumental in bringing critically-acclaimed documentaries, Weiner, Zero Days and Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars to the network. Previously, Malhotra served as Senior Vice President of Development and Acquisitions at CNN Worldwide. In 2010, Malhotra joined ESPN as Vice President and Executive Producer of Content Development. He began his career with ABC News in 1997. Malhotra has received numerous industry honors for excellence in journalism including three Primetime Emmy® Awards, six News and Documentary Emmy® Awards, a Peabody and an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award.

For more on the IDA Board of Directors, visit: https://www.documentary.org/about-us/board-of-directors