Producer: A Memoir

by David L. Wolper, David Fisher (With), Mike Wallace (Introduction)

"It was David who first led me to understand the meaning of the word producer....He had a vision, he organized, he was there from conception to delivery, every time. It was his clairvoyance, his engagement, his encouragement, that made a Wolper production a joy to work on....I marvel at the variety of enterprises that have borne the David L. Wolper name, undertakings of quality, prestige, compassion, and distinction." -- Mike Wallace From one of the most successful and influential producers in the entertainment industry -- responsible for classics such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, L.A. Confidential, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -- comes a fascinating memoir of life at the very hub of Hollywood. David L. Wolper and television were both born in 1928, and their futures would be forever linked, as Wolper grew up to become one of the most significant television producers. His entrepreneurial talents were obvious from the start, when he sold homegrown radishes to his mother for a penny each and delivered sealed envelopes for the wiseguys who hung around New York's Copacabana nightclub. Part salesman, part visionary, Wolper began his television career in 1949 by peddling films to the newly created TV stations across the country. He left the distribution business in 1958 when he produced his first award-winning television documentary, Race for Space, about the competing U.S. and Russian space programs. From that point on, Wolper's career skyrocketed. His company, Wolper Productions, has created thousands of hours of diverse programming, including the two highest-rated miniseries of all time, Roots and The Thorn Birds; such landmark spectacles as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics; hit comedies like Welcome Back, Kotter; the classic movies L.A. Confidential and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; film biographies of John Lennon and Elvis Presley; and acclaimed documentaries with Jacques Cousteau and the National Geographic Society. Despite Wolper's staggering success and his countless Oscars, Emmys, and Golden Globes, he remains street-smart, wry, and surprisingly down-to-earth. Told in a conversational, comfortable voice, Producer is filled with funny and surprising anecdotes about such varied personalities as Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace and John Travolta, the Kennedys and Richard Nixon, and legends Orson Welles and Federico Fellini. By combining flexibility, resourcefulness, and determination, Wolper produced some of the landmark documentaries, films, miniseries, and entertainment events of the twentieth century. Producer is the engaging and inspiring memoir of a true pioneer.

Genres: Film, Biography

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Dave]

What’s the story? Is it true? Is it entertaining?

David L. Wolper left USC early to get in on TV at the start. He found these brand-new TV stations needed content - even boring travelogues about the Orkney Islands - to fill the space. In the early days, there weren’t even reruns. He traveled coast to coast meeting with these new station heads, selling footage he had acquired.

He also realized that history, well-packaged, could provide a jolt of entertainment to viewers benumbed by insipid sitcoms and dramas. If it were backed by network entertainment divisions, it wouldn’t ruffle the feathers/threaten their news divisions.

He brought quality composers and narrators and young (read cheap) documentarians to create some award-winning work, notably a history of the space race and partnerships with historian Theodore White and Jacques Cousteau.

And then came “Roots” — one of the most momentous productions in TV history. (The chapter on the extraordinary alignment that led to its creation and adaptation is the best in the.book).

The book is essentially how Wolper did everything—complete with missteps and a few projects he loved and couldn’t sell, like Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique.” It also includes a deadly tragedy of a production in California, of filming at the Munich Olympics-turned-terrorist site in 1972, and of a motion picture turn with “Willy Wonka” and “LA Confidential.” And yes, TV series work with “Welcome Back, Kotter” and “Chico and the Man.”

[A Cesspool Buffoonery]

Another TV "producer"-aping-premier-Motion-Picture producer memoir.

David L. Wolper pioneered broadcast propaganda documentaries -- a trade he would later exploit while pantomiming realism for his War film: The Bridge at Remagen (1969) -- and operated one of the first, profitable Broadcast production Post-Production studios.

Wolper's legacy is repurposing media assets. No mas. so there.