Thomas Colbert is a former senior media executive with thirty-six years of management and editorial experience in the national news, television entertainment, publishing, and motion-picture fields. He began his career in journalism research at the CBS flagship news station, KCBS, in 1980. From there, he was recruited by Paramount Television in 1988 to be a story editor. In 1992, Colbert launched his own true-story research company, Industry R&D (IRD), to serve national networks, studios, and publishing houses. Nineteen of his breaking stories became movies for the big and small screen, with a like number of published books. He sold IRD in 2009, but still pursues the occasional book, movie, and series project through his firm, TJC Consulting, LLC.