Paul Wolff
Encyclopedia
Paul Wolff is a screenwriter, actor, producer and popular screenwriting
instructor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He has taught at the university for over fourteen years. Before he made the move to teaching and acting
, Wolff had a prolific career in television
which spanned nearly three decades.
. He later went on to write for such TV shows as Little House on the Prairie
, Family Ties
, Fame
, "Remington Steele
" starring Pierce Brosnan
and the number one hit Home Improvement.
In addition to being a successful television writer, Wolff also achieved success through his career as a television producer
and showrunner. He created, produced, and acted as show runner on the short-lived yet critically acclaimed series, Annie McGuire
, starring Mary Tyler Moore
. In addition, he served as a producer and director on the early 1990s series Life Goes On
courses at the University of Southern California
, including CTWR 206 and CTWR 499, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, a class Wolff conceived himself in 2007, which focuses on the role and importance of the storyteller in society.
, rather than the product. Unica’s first feature film, Blue in Green, was chosen by Los Angeles Times
film critic Kevin Thomas to screen at the LA Cinematheque’s Alternative Film Festival. In 2007, as an actor Wolff played the role of Prospero from Shakespeare's The Tempest
at the Egyptian Arena Theatre's Shakespeare Festival.
"I was a film student at USC and took a handful of writing courses. It's the instructors, though, that make that program. Paul Wolff, for instance. The guy is the Zen Master of screenwriting. Anyone can teach the fundamentals, but he helped me find my passion for the craft" - Adam Sztykiel, screenwriter
, from his interview with Who's Buying What, after he sold another screenplay.
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
instructor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He has taught at the university for over fourteen years. Before he made the move to teaching and acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
, Wolff had a prolific career in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
which spanned nearly three decades.
Television
Paul Wolff first entered the television scene as a writer in the late 1970s on the TV series, FamilyFamily (TV series)
Family is an American television drama series that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1980. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling and Mike Nichols...
. He later went on to write for such TV shows as Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...
, Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
, Fame
Fame (1982 TV series)
Fame is an American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show was based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name. Using a mixture of drama and music, it followed the lives of the students and faculty at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Although...
, "Remington Steele
Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
" starring Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
and the number one hit Home Improvement.
In addition to being a successful television writer, Wolff also achieved success through his career as a television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and showrunner. He created, produced, and acted as show runner on the short-lived yet critically acclaimed series, Annie McGuire
Annie McGuire
Annie McGuire is a Scottish reporter and presenter on BBC Scotland programmes including football phone-in show 'Your Call' and Sportsound. Occasionally links Radio Scotland's New Music Zone and T in the Park coverage and stood in for presenter Vic Galloway. She also wrote occasionally for the...
, starring Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...
. In addition, he served as a producer and director on the early 1990s series Life Goes On
Life Goes On (TV series)
Life Goes On is a television series that aired on ABC from September 12, 1989 to May 23, 1993. The show centers on the Thacher family living in suburban Chicago: Drew, his wife Elizabeth, and their children Paige, Rebecca, and Charles, who is known as Corky...
Teaching
Wolff currently teaches a variety of screenwritingScreenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
courses at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, including CTWR 206 and CTWR 499, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, a class Wolff conceived himself in 2007, which focuses on the role and importance of the storyteller in society.
Other Endeavors
Paul Wolff was one of the founders of the Unica Film Collaborative, an experimental film group that focuses on the “process” of filmmakingFilmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
, rather than the product. Unica’s first feature film, Blue in Green, was chosen by Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
film critic Kevin Thomas to screen at the LA Cinematheque’s Alternative Film Festival. In 2007, as an actor Wolff played the role of Prospero from Shakespeare's The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
at the Egyptian Arena Theatre's Shakespeare Festival.
Quotations
"there are professors there that will blow you away. I continue to meet with one of the greatest teachers in the universe, Paul Wolff, who has become a great friend of mine and is still teaching me the craft of writing and life to this day. " - Joe Ballarini, filmmaker, from his interview with AbsoluteWrite after he sold his first screenplay for a large sum."I was a film student at USC and took a handful of writing courses. It's the instructors, though, that make that program. Paul Wolff, for instance. The guy is the Zen Master of screenwriting. Anyone can teach the fundamentals, but he helped me find my passion for the craft" - Adam Sztykiel, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, from his interview with Who's Buying What, after he sold another screenplay.