GHSPi (Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions, Inc.) and its PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE division have produced hundreds of hours of landmark science documentaries and interactive specials for the US and international markets.
Geoff Haines-Stiles was a Senior Producer and director on Carl Sagan’s original COSMOS series (3 Emmys, and the Peabody Award), and Erna Akuginow worked with Carl on the NUCLEUS sequel. They partnered to create the first live broadcasts from the South Pole and the Antarctic Peninsula, and then collaborated with the Smithsonian Institution and the Brazilian government and—with the loan of the NASA Advanced Communications Technology Satellite and a team of engineers—produced the first 2-way interactive TV specials from the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Their CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE special with an Advisory Board of 6 Nobel Laureates was one of public television’s most-loved and most re-run science specials. In 2010-12 they created the 3-part PBS project on climate science and clean energy solutions, “EARTH: The Operators’ Manual,” which the New York Times called “one of the more interesting documentary series to come along in years.”
Geoff and Erna were 2013 winners of AGU’s “Robert C. Cowen Award” for sustained contributions to science journalism honoring their "more than 30 years of work with leading Earth and space science researchers, and their role in sharing cutting-edge science with the public through a wide range of innovative communications tools, including broadcast television, spoken word presentations, online media and educational publications." Breakthrough science communication initiatives include “Marsapalooza” and POLAR-PALOOZA, a travelling science road show that visited 25 communities across the USA and also China, Australia, Brazil, Russia, Norway and McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
Their work has been supported by peer-reviewed grants from NASA, NSF, NOAA and other government agencies, and has appeared on PBS, Discovery/Science Channel, CNN, TBS, NASA-TV, and on leading international broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel 4, CCTV, NHK, and Al Jazeera. GHSPi has an extensive library of HD and other video, from the Arctic and Antarctic, and other locations worldwide, available for licensing.
“Working closely with Carl on all aspects of COSMOS, from research to late-night scripting, from arduous location work in Egypt and Death Valley to post-production back in LA, changed my life—just as the series changed the lives of many of the millions of viewers who’ve watched since then. It showed me that science was just as much a part of human life as the arts, and that television could communicate substance just as much as books. COSMOS launched me on my career, and I’m proud to have been associated with what remains a landmark in American TV history.”
‐ Geoff Haines-Stiles, 2014
