David Hoffman
Encyclopedia
David Hoffman is one of America’s veteran documentary
filmmakers. During his 40-year career, Hoffman has made five feature-length documentaries including King, Murray, an experimental feature film about a Long Island salesman who goes to Las Vegas on a junket to gamble with other high rollers. King, Murray was the winner of the Critics Award at The Cannes Film Festival. Other feature films include: Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends, starring Scruggs
with Bob Dylan
, Doc Watson
, and The Byrds
; Sing Sing Thanksgiving, a concert feature film at Sing Sing Prison in New York with B.B. King, Joan Baez
and others; and It’s All Good, a film chronicling the lives of two aggressive rollerblade teams in New York City
and Los Angeles
that are competing for a national prize.
, New York
and raised in Levittown, Long Island
by parents H. Lawrence and Eve Hoffman. Hoffman's father was an illustrator and teacher at Cooper Union and his mother was a public speaker. Although his initial career path was as a professional musician
, when offered the chance to play for the Minneapolis Symphony (today known as the Minnesota Orchestra), Hoffman decided to venture into storytelling as a filmmaker. At the time the handheld 16 mm camera had just come into prominence in documentary filmmaking, largely as a result of the Maysles Brothers
, and Hoffman picked up a used one and began to make movies. Because of his background it was no coincidence that his first films were about musical themes, and at age 24 he was recognized by the United States Information Agency
(USIA) as one of the ten best young filmmakers in America.
Hoffman’s next venture as a filmmaker was into television. He opened his own production company, and produced programs for Public Television (including The American Dream Machine series) as well as low budget features. It was during this time his feature film, King, Murray, won the top Semaine de la Critique award at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival
.
In the mid 1970s, Hoffman moved into corporate communications and learned the craft from Herb Schmertz, the well-known head of public relations and advertising at Mobil
. From 1975 to 1981, Hoffman was part of a core team responsible for repositioning Mobil's public image. He produced many of the innovative projects that successfully attached Mobil’s corporate messages to public, social and artistic issues; these projects included Moon for the Misbegotten, The Magic Show and other television specials and series.
It was during this time that he learned the techniques developed by Schmertz including positioning and key messaging. This led to work involved with the use of the op-ed
page in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, the staging of special events like MOMA’s Summer Garden, the production of corporate books and catalogues, the development of television series like Ten Who Dared and PBS’ Upstairs Downstairs, as well as some of the most unusual television commercials ever produced. Hoffman's 1977 series of television commercials was actually reviewed in the New York Times. Beyond Mobil, Hoffman was responsible for the development of similar communications programs for UTC
, Aetna
, Motorola
, TRW
, Merck
and others.
Hoffman made more than 100 primetime documentary television specials and series mostly for PBS, Turner
, A&E
and Discovery
. Among his most notable are Ten Who Dared with Anthony Quinn
, the landmark PBS series Making Sense Of The Sixties, and Turner Broadcasting’s Moon Shot
, winner of the Peabody Award
for best TV series and nominated for two Emmys. Most of Hoffman's documentary films have been independently sponsored and not produced by a television network.
Hoffman is a traditional documentary filmmaker who often writes, shoots, directs, edits, and even narrates his films. To support his status and role in American cinematography, Hoffman has received numerous awards from national and international film festivals and competitions.
Hoffman spent much of his career producing films in Camden
, Maine
. Today he lives and works in Bonny Doon, California
.
He lost almost everything he owned, including his house and long prized possessions, in a fire in 2008.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
filmmakers. During his 40-year career, Hoffman has made five feature-length documentaries including King, Murray, an experimental feature film about a Long Island salesman who goes to Las Vegas on a junket to gamble with other high rollers. King, Murray was the winner of the Critics Award at The Cannes Film Festival. Other feature films include: Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends, starring Scruggs
Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
with Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
, and The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
; Sing Sing Thanksgiving, a concert feature film at Sing Sing Prison in New York with B.B. King, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
and others; and It’s All Good, a film chronicling the lives of two aggressive rollerblade teams in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
that are competing for a national prize.
Biography
David Hoffman was born in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and raised in Levittown, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
by parents H. Lawrence and Eve Hoffman. Hoffman's father was an illustrator and teacher at Cooper Union and his mother was a public speaker. Although his initial career path was as a professional musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, when offered the chance to play for the Minneapolis Symphony (today known as the Minnesota Orchestra), Hoffman decided to venture into storytelling as a filmmaker. At the time the handheld 16 mm camera had just come into prominence in documentary filmmaking, largely as a result of the Maysles Brothers
Albert and David Maysles
Albert and David Maysles were a documentary filmmaking team whose cinéma vérité works include Salesman , Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens . Their 1964 film on The Beatles forms the backbone of the DVD, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit...
, and Hoffman picked up a used one and began to make movies. Because of his background it was no coincidence that his first films were about musical themes, and at age 24 he was recognized by the United States Information Agency
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency , which existed from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, USIA's broadcasting functions were moved to the newly created Broadcasting Board of Governors, and its exchange and non-broadcasting information functions were...
(USIA) as one of the ten best young filmmakers in America.
Hoffman’s next venture as a filmmaker was into television. He opened his own production company, and produced programs for Public Television (including The American Dream Machine series) as well as low budget features. It was during this time his feature film, King, Murray, won the top Semaine de la Critique award at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
In the mid 1970s, Hoffman moved into corporate communications and learned the craft from Herb Schmertz, the well-known head of public relations and advertising at Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
. From 1975 to 1981, Hoffman was part of a core team responsible for repositioning Mobil's public image. He produced many of the innovative projects that successfully attached Mobil’s corporate messages to public, social and artistic issues; these projects included Moon for the Misbegotten, The Magic Show and other television specials and series.
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
page in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, the staging of special events like MOMA’s Summer Garden, the production of corporate books and catalogues, the development of television series like Ten Who Dared and PBS’ Upstairs Downstairs, as well as some of the most unusual television commercials ever produced. Hoffman's 1977 series of television commercials was actually reviewed in the New York Times. Beyond Mobil, Hoffman was responsible for the development of similar communications programs for UTC
United Technologies Corporation
United Technologies Corporation is an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in the United Technologies Building in Hartford, Connecticut...
, Aetna
Aetna
Aetna, Inc. is an American health insurance company, providing a range of traditional and consumer directed health care insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care, and disability plans, and medical management...
, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, TRW
TRW
TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, automotive, and credit reporting. It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software and systems engineering. TRW built many spacecraft,...
, Merck
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
and others.
Hoffman made more than 100 primetime documentary television specials and series mostly for PBS, Turner
Turner Entertainment
Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
, A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
and Discovery
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
. Among his most notable are Ten Who Dared with Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
, the landmark PBS series Making Sense Of The Sixties, and Turner Broadcasting’s Moon Shot
Moon Shot
Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon is a book written by Mercury Seven astronaut Alan Shepard, with NBC News correspondent Jay Barbree and Associated Press space writer Howard Benedict. Astronaut Donald K. "Deke" Slayton is also listed as an author, although he died before...
, winner of the Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
for best TV series and nominated for two Emmys. Most of Hoffman's documentary films have been independently sponsored and not produced by a television network.
Hoffman is a traditional documentary filmmaker who often writes, shoots, directs, edits, and even narrates his films. To support his status and role in American cinematography, Hoffman has received numerous awards from national and international film festivals and competitions.
Hoffman spent much of his career producing films in Camden
Camden, Maine
Camden is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,254 at the 2000 census. The population of the town more than triples during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. Camden is a famous summer colony in the Mid-Coast region of Maine...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. Today he lives and works in Bonny Doon, California
Bonny Doon, California
Bonny Doon is a census-designated place in Santa Cruz County, California. Bonny Doon sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported Bonny Doon's population was 2,678....
.
He lost almost everything he owned, including his house and long prized possessions, in a fire in 2008.
External links
- David Hoffman's YouTube Channel
- Moon Shot IMDB page
- How Hitler Lost the War IMDB page
- NY Times review of King, Murray
- NY Times review of Dynamite Chicken
- NY Times review of Wings Over Water
- NY Times review of Second Home
- NY Times review of Sins of Our Mothers
- NY Times review of Submarine: Steel Boats, Iron Men
- Washington Post article Liberal Documentarians that quotes David Hoffman
- TED Talks: David Hoffman shares his Sputnik mania at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
in 2008 - TED Talks: David Hoffman on losing everything at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
in 2008