By: Lennard James
For more than 25 years, those three words have represented much more than the beginning of a television production for David Perozzi. They represent a career spent behind the camera finding stories, developing compelling voices, and helping transform important moments into television that audiences watch, discuss, and remember.
An award-winning journalist, television producer and editorial strategist, Perozzi has built a career spanning news, documentaries, investigative reporting, crime, entertainment and long-form television. His professional journey has included work with some of the most recognized organizations and personalities in American broadcasting, including CBS, ABC News, CNN and Lincoln Square Productions.
Today, Perozzi serves as a Senior Producer for See It Now Studios at CBS, where he continues doing what has defined his career: finding the human story behind the public figure or headline.
In 2026, Perozzi was part of the team behind the CBS documentary special Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable, a 90-minute examination of the life and remarkable career of Judge Judy Sheindlin. The documentary follows Sheindlin from Brooklyn to New York Family Court and ultimately to becoming one of the most recognizable personalities in television history.
It is exactly the kind of project that illustrates Perozzi’s approach to storytelling.
Behind the lights and cameras is a producer asking a more important question: What is the story audiences haven’t fully heard?
That philosophy has followed Perozzi throughout his career.
At ABC News, he produced hundreds of stories involving breaking news, crime, consumer affairs and entertainment. He served as a senior producer for Robin Roberts and worked with respected journalists and correspondents including Diane Sawyer, Cynthia McFadden and John Quiñones.
Working alongside some of broadcasting’s strongest interviewers gave Perozzi an opportunity to see firsthand how preparation, curiosity and listening can turn an ordinary interview into an unforgettable television moment.
His ABC News career also brought him into close professional contact with Anderson Cooper. Perozzi later became a senior producer for Cooper’s nationally syndicated daytime program, Anderson Live, where news, entertainment and human-interest storytelling came together in a different television format.
Perozzi continued expanding his storytelling portfolio at CNN, working on long-form crime and investigative programs, including How It Really Happened. His television credits also included major specials involving internationally recognized figures, including a Billy Joel special with Fareed Zakaria and a two-hour documentary about basketball legend Kobe Bryant.
Whether the subject was crime, celebrity, sports, culture or breaking news, the challenge remained the same: move beyond what audiences already know and find the details that make them care.
That is where the real work happens before anyone says, “Lights, camera, action.”
A successful television production begins long before the cameras start rolling. Producers research subjects, identify guests, develop storylines, prepare interviews, coordinate logistics, and make hundreds of editorial decisions that viewers may never see.
Perozzi has spent decades mastering that process.
As a Supervising Producer at Madison Square Garden and Fuse News, he oversaw branded programming including Artist to Artist, Fresh Cuts and Two Days in the Life. His responsibilities included creative development, pre-production, editorial strategy, budgeting, scripting, post-production, promotion and quality control.
Later, at Lincoln Square Productions, Perozzi served as an executive producer and showrunner on programs including 20/20 on ID Presents Homicide, Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals and the 10-part archival series As We Watched.
One of the most important relationships of his career was with legendary journalist Barbara Walters.
Walters became an important professional influence and mentor to Perozzi. Her legendary interviewing style demonstrated that the most revealing moments often come from understanding the person sitting across from you, not simply reading the next question.
That lesson helped shape Perozzi’s own approach to journalism.
Find the person. Understand the story. Ask the right question. Then listen.
Perozzi has also evolved with an industry that looks dramatically different from when his career began.
Television has moved from an era dominated by a handful of networks into a world of streaming platforms, podcasts, social media, YouTube, and on-demand programming. Yet Perozzi has remained relevant because his fundamental skill is not tied to any single platform.
He understands storytelling.
Over the course of his career, Perozzi has earned two Emmy Awards and five CINE Golden Eagle Awards, along with the Gracie Allen Award and the American Legion Heart of America Award. He also earned a Master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University.
But his journey cannot be measured simply through awards, networks or famous names.
The larger story is about longevity, adaptability and maintaining journalistic instincts through decades of change.
For Perozzi, the best journalism cuts through the static and noise of modern media. Behind every major headline is a person. Behind every public personality is a journey. And behind every memorable television program is a team working to make sure that story reaches the audience.
That has been David Perozzi’s world for more than 25 years.
From ABC News and CNN to Lincoln Square Productions and CBS, from breaking news to intimate interviews, from investigative television to documentaries featuring cultural icons, Perozzi has spent his career helping audiences see beyond the obvious.
The cameras may capture the images and the lights may illuminate the set, but it is storytelling that gives television its power.
And when someone finally calls “Lights, camera, action,” David Perozzi understands that the most important thing happening isn’t simply that the cameras are rolling.
It is that another story is about to come to life.
