Paul Wolff

Paul Wolff is a screenwriter, actor, producer and popular screenwriting Professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He retired in 2016 after teaching at the university for over twenty years. Before he made the move to teaching and acting, Wolff had a prolific career in television which spanned nearly three decades.

Television

Paul Wolff first entered the television scene as a writer in the late 1970s on the TV series, Family. 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

In 2013, Wolff received an award from the Writer's Guild of America for his contribution to the TV show Family Ties which was named as one of the Guild's "Best 101 Written Television Shows."

Teaching

Wolff currently teaches a variety of screenwriting courses at the University of Southern California, including CTWR 206 and CTWR 499. Wolff created the course,Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. It focused 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 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. In 2007, as an actor Wolff played the role of Prospero from Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Egyptian Arena Theatre's Shakespeare Festival.

Wolff also co-wrote and stars in the feature comedy Father vs. Son which co-stars Emmy winner Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family). The film won the Critics Choice Award for Best Premiere Film at the Houston International Film Festival and was acquired by Osiris Releasing.

Professor Wolff was ordained as a Maggid, or Jewish teacher-storyteller, in 1994 by Rabbis Jonathan Omer-man and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Paul served as spiritual leader at Beit T’Shuvah, a Jewish halfway house, for two years. 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 (Jewish Home magazine article 2010). Paul’s spiritual journey and return to Judaism is discussed at length in Rodger Kamenetz’s 1997 book, Stalking Elijah (Harper Collins).

In Over the Top Judaism (University Press of America, 2003) Elliot Gertel wrote that Paul Wolff’s “The Craftsman” episode of TV’s Little House on the Prairie was “Television’s best exploration of Judaism.”