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Paul Wolff is a screenwriter, actor, producer. He was a screenwriting teacher at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He retired in 2016 after teaching at the university for over twenty years. Wolff previously had a career in television which spanned nearly three decades.
Wolff was a writer in the late 1970s on the TV series, Family . He later wrote for such TV shows as Little House on the Prairie , Family Ties ; Fame ; Remington Steele (starring Pierce Brosnan); and Home Improvement . Wolff also worked as a television producer and showrunner.[ citation needed ] With Elliot Shoenman, he co-created and co-executive produced the short-lived series, Annie McGuire , starring Mary Tyler Moore. He served as a producer and director on the early 1990s series Life Goes On .[ citation needed ]
Wolff taught a variety of screenwriting courses at the University of Southern California.[ citation needed ] He was one of the founders of the Unica Film Collaborative, an experimental film group that focuses on the process of filmmaking, 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. [1]
Professor[ dubious ] Wolff was ordained as a Maggid, or Jewish teacher-storyteller, in 1994 by Rabbis Jonathan Omer-man and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He served as spiritual leader at Beit T'Shuvah, a Jewish halfway house, for two years.[ citation needed ] In 1994 he was recommended by Schachter-Shalomi to the Los Angeles Jewish Home to help the extreme aged find hope and purpose in the latter stages of life. His "Meaning of Life" group is now in its 21st year. [2] In Over the Top Judaism (University Press of America, 2003), Elliot Gertel wrote that Wolff's "The Craftsman" episode of TV's Little House on the Prairie was "Television's best exploration of Judaism."[ citation needed ]
Meshullam Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, commonly called "Reb Zalman", was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecumenical dialogue.
Jewish Renewal is a Jewish religious movement originating in the 20th century that endeavors to reinvigorate modern Judaism with Kabbalistic, Hasidic, and musical practices. Specifically, it seeks to reintroduce the "ancient Judaic traditions of mysticism and meditation, gender equality and ecstatic prayer" to synagogue services. It is distinct from the baal teshuva movement of return to Orthodox Judaism.
Michael Landon was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983), and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven (1984–1989). Landon appeared on the cover of TV Guide 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.
Mathew Jay Roach is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Austin Powers film series, Meet the Parents, Dinner for Schmucks, The Campaign, Trumbo, and Bombshell.
Neo-Hasidism, Neochassidut, or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which people learn beliefs and practices of Hasidic Judaism, and incorporate it into their own lives or prayer communities, yet without formally joining a Hasidic group. Over the 20th century neo-Hasidism was popularized by the works of writers such as Hillel Zeitlin, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Lawrence Kushner, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and Arthur Green.
Leonard Francis Penn was an American actor and director and the father of musician Michael Penn and actors Sean and Chris Penn.
Irvin Kershner was an American film director, actor, and producer of film and television.
David Bezmozgis is a Canadian writer and filmmaker, currently the head of Humber College's School for Writers.
Matthew Hoffman Weiner is an American television writer, producer, and director best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series Mad Men, and as a writer and executive producer on The Sopranos.
The Brandeis-Bardin Campus of American Jewish University is a Jewish retreat located since 1947 in the northeastern Simi Hills, in the city of Simi Valley, California. Formerly known as the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, it is used for nondenominational summer programs for children, teens, and young adults.
Richard Timothy Kring is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his creation of the drama series Strange World, Crossing Jordan, Heroes, and Touch.
Dan Gordon is an Israeli-American screenwriter, television writer, television producer, television director, film producer, novelist, playwright, film director, and reserve duty captain in the Israel Defense Forces.
In Judaism, God has been conceived in a variety of ways. Traditionally, Judaism holds that Yahweh, the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the national god of the Israelites, delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and gave them the Law of Moses at Mount Sinai as described in the Torah. Jews traditionally believe in a monotheistic conception of God, which is both transcendent and immanent.
Lawrence Konner is an American screenwriter, producer and film director. Konner has written over twenty-five feature films, including Mona Lisa Smile, Planet of the Apes, The Legend of Billie Jean, The Jewel of the Nile, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Konner’s writing for television spans over forty-five years. His works include the HBO series The Sopranos, for which Konner earned an Emmy nomination in 2001, and Boardwalk Empire, for which he received the WGA Award for Best New Series in 2010. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his work as writer and executive producer on the 2016 miniseries Roots. Other television credits include Family and Little House on the Prairie.
Aaron Rahsaan Thomas is an American television and film screenwriter and producer, as well as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
Biff Elliot was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as popular detective Mike Hammer in the 1953 version of I, the Jury and for his guest appearance as Schmitter in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark".
Mary Beth Fielder is an American writer, director and producer of television and feature films. She served on the faculty of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts from 1994 to 2009.
Eco-Kashrut, also called the Eco-Kosher movement, is a movement to extend the Kashrut system, or Jewish dietary laws, to address modern environmental, social, and ethical issues, and promote sustainability.
Rami M. Shapiro, commonly called "Rabbi Rami", is an author, teacher, and speaker on the subjects of liberal Judaism and contemporary spirituality.
Yisroel Jacobson (1895-1975) was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi and the representative of the sixth Chabad rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, to the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. He was one of the first Lubavitcher activists to arrive in to the United States. He was born in Russia and migrated to the United States in 1925.