Michael Tollin | |
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Born | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Other names | Mike Tollin |
Occupation(s) | Director, executive producer |
Years active | 1982–present |
Children | 2 |
Michael Tollin is an American film and television producer/director who served as executive producer of the Emmy award-winning The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. The series received rave reviews [1] and set numerous ratings records, being seen by nearly 15 million viewers per episode on ESPN and many million more on Netflix around the world.
Tollin's other career highlights include Radio , Coach Carter , Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream , and Varsity Blues . [2] He has also produced and/or directed such movies and television shows as Arli$$ , Smallville , One Tree Hill , All That , Kenan & Kel , Summer Catch , Wild Hogs , Dreamer , Good Burger , Big Fat Liar , and The Bronx is Burning .
Tollin directed and/or produced documentaries, including The Comedy Store Documentary, Let Me Be Brave, Morningside Five, Iverson, Kareem: Minority of One, and Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL? . He is currently the co-chairman of Mandalay Sports Media. [3]
Michael Tollin grew up in Havertown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. [4] His father, Sol Tollin (1929–2006), played basketball and baseball for Haverford College from 1947 to 1951. Tollin has a passion for sports and remains fiercely loyal to his Philadelphia teams. [5] Both Tollin and his father were inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. [6] [7]
He attended Haverford High School and graduated from Stanford University in 1977, [8] where he was a sports columnist and the play-by-play radio announcer for Stanford basketball. [9]
After graduating from Stanford, Tollin's first job was producer/writer for a syndicated series of sports documentaries called Greatest Sports Legends. [10] Within one year of his arrival, Tollin began directing the series. He went on to work with MLB Productions in New York and was one of the creators of an Emmy Award-winning series called The Baseball Bunch. [11]
In 1980, he was the screenwriter of the official World Series film [ clarification needed ] in which his favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies, defeated the Kansas City Royals in six games. His script was narrated by Vin Scully. [12]
In 1982, Tollin formed his own company, Halcyon Days Productions, and was awarded exclusive rights to the United States Football League, a spring pro football league which played from 1983 through 1985. [13] Tollin later directed the ESPN 30 for 30 film, "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" in which he and others associated with the USFL, notably former New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump, offered a retrospective on the league (the title came from a quote from Trump). In addition to its work on the USFL, Halcyon Days Productions also produced sports documentaries, children's shows and entertainment specials. [11] After the fall of the USFL, he moved to California and joined Brian Robbins to found Tollin/Robbins Productions. [11] In 1993, the duo produced their first documentary together Hardwood Dreams, which won the Crystal Heart award at the 1993 Heartland Film Festival. [14]
Over the next 15 years Tollin and Robbins teamed up to direct and produce more than a dozen feature films, award-winning documentaries and hundreds of hours of television. Some of Tollin/Robbins highlights include the films Varsity Blues , Coach Carter , Radio , Dreamer , Wild Hogs and Hardball ; the television series Smallville , Arli$$ and One Tree Hill ; as well as several award-winning documentaries, including Academy Award nominated Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream , which Tollin wrote, produced and directed. [11] In 2007, Robbins and Tollin decided to amicably split up the partnership both citing a desire to work on their own passion projects. [15]
In 2012, Tollin partnered with Mandalay Entertainment chairman and CEO Peter Guber to form Mandalay Sports Media. [16] MSM is a media and production company, the focus of which is sports entertainment programming for all media platforms. [17] The company's portfolio runs the gamut from sports movies to scripted and unscripted series, documentaries, web series and branded content. [16]
Tollin is the executive producer of The Last Dance , a 10-part documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. MSM/Tollin have also produced the motion pictures Chuck and The Zookeeper's Wife ; the documentaries Iverson, Kareem: Minority of One, Fastball, Morningside 5, CounterPunch , The Franchise , and the Katy Perry Superbowl Halftime Special; and the TV series/specials Sin City Saints , Wedding Band , Summer Dreams, Every Street United, and Bluegrass Kingdom.[ citation needed ]
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
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1985 | This is the USFL | Director |
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1987 | Kids on Kids on Kids | Director |
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1991 | Let Me Be Brave | Writer, producer, director |
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1993 | Hardwood Dreams | Director, writer |
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1994 | All That | Executive producer |
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1995 | Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream | Director, writer, producer |
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1997 | Sports Theater with Shaquille O’Neal | Executive producer |
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2003 | Radio | Director |
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2005 | Coach Carter | Producer |
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2007 | The Bronx is Burning | Executive producer |
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2009 | 30 for 30 | Consulting producer, executive producer |
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2011 | The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants | Executive producer |
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2012 | 30 for 30 Shorts | Executive producer, producer |
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2018 | CounterPunch | Executive producer |
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2020 | The Last Dance | Executive producer |
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Smallville is an American superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produced by Millar/Gough Ink, Tollin/Robbins Productions, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television. Initially broadcast by the WB, the show premiered on October 16, 2001. After its fifth season, the WB and UPN merged to form The CW, the series' later United States broadcaster until its tenth and final season ended on May 13, 2011.
Mandalay Entertainment Group is an American entertainment company founded in 1995 by Peter Guber, with interests in motion pictures, animated films, television, sports entertainment and new media.
Thomas "Tom" Joseph Welling is an American actor, director, producer, podcaster, and model. He is best known for his role as Clark Kent in The WB/The CW superhero drama Smallville (2001–2011). He also co-starred in the third season of Fox fantasy comedy-drama Lucifer as Lt. Marcus Pierce/Cain (2017–2018).
Howard Peter Guber is an American film producer, business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's most recent films from Mandalay Entertainment include The Kids Are All Right, Soul Surfer and Bernie. He has also produced Rain Man, Batman, The Color Purple, Midnight Express, Gorillas in the Mist, The Witches of Eastwick, Missing, and Flashdance. Guber's films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide and received 50 Academy Award nominations.
Brian Robbins is an American businessman, film and television producer, director, executive and current co-CEO of Paramount Global. He has been the president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon since 2021. He was named the co-CEO of Paramount Global in April 2024.
Steve James is an American film producer and director of several documentaries, including Hoop Dreams (1994), Stevie (2002), The Interrupters (2011), Life Itself (2014), and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016).
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The Bronx Is Burning is a television drama that debuted on ESPN on July 10, 2007, after the 2007 MLB Home Run Derby. It is an eight-episode mini-series adapted from Jonathan Mahler's best-selling book, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning. The book focuses on baseball's triumph over the turmoil and hysteria of 1977 New York City and how the New York Yankees came to embody the hopes and fears of an unforgettable summer with Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson's warfare under George Steinbrenner's leadership.
Tollin Productions is an American movie and television production company operated by Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins in 1994. Joe Davola was also an unofficial partner in the company and co-produced many of the company's productions along with Robbins and Tollin from 1994–2013 and 2021–present.
Morningside High School is a public high school in Inglewood, California. It is the second largest high school after Inglewood High School in the city.
All That is an American sketch comedy children's television series created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon from April 16, 1994, to October 22, 2005, lasting ten seasons, and was produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions and by Schneider's Bakery in season ten. The pilot episode was originally shown as a special "sneak peek" on April 16, 1994, with the show officially debuting as a regular series on January 21, 1995.
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Dany Garcia Rienzi is an American film producer and businesswoman. She is the founder of GSTQ and the CEO and chair of The Garcia Companies overseeing a portfolio of brands in business, entertainment, and food, including Teremana Tequila, Athleticon, and the Project Rock Collection at Under Armour, VOSS, Atom Tickets, Salt & Straw, ZOA Energy, Acorns, and the UFL.
Jon Weinbach is an American film and television writer and producer. He is currently President of Skydance Sports and was previously the executive producer and executive vice president for Mandalay Sports Media, a media and production company that focuses on sports entertainment programming.
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