John Bard Manulis

John Bard Manulis (born September 8, 1956) is an American film, television and theater producer, director, entrepreneur and activist.[1] He has produced or executive produced more than 20 films, television programs, and theater productions, including Charlotte Sometimes, The Basketball Diaries, Swing Kids, Arctic Tale, Foxfire, HBO's Blindside, and The Umbilical Brothers: THWAK.

John Bard Manulis
Born (1956-09-08) September 8, 1956
Los Angeles, California
Alma materHarvard University
OccupationProducer, director, social/political activist, entrepreneur
OrganizationWriter's Guild of America East
Producer's Guild of America
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Board member ofThe Liberty Hill Foundation
The Getty House Foundation
Spouse(s)Liz Heller
WebsiteOfficial website

Manulis has been noted for creating a body of work over the course of his career that integrates social and political themes within popular entertainment, including these: drug addiction (The Basketball Diaries); repression and rebellion (Swing Kids); AIDS, individual freedom, and bi-racial relationships (Daybreak); the Vietnam War (Intimate Strangers); positive Latino role models (Tortilla Soup); female empowerment (Foxfire, V.I. Warshawski); poverty (American Idol Gives Back) and climate change/environmental consciousness (Arctic Tale).

Early life and education

Manulis was born in Los Angeles to actress Katharine Bard [2] and Martin Manulis; his father is a film, television, and theater producer best known as the creator of the television program, Playhouse 90.[3]

He attended Harvard College[4] after his preparatory school education at Harvard School, in North Hollywood, California.[5]

Manulis graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in English and American Literature and Language. He was president of the Harvard Dramatic Club, and directed numerous productions, including the musical Two Gentleman of Verona, by John Guare and Galt MacDermot, which he independently produced and presented outdoors in Harvard Yard,[6] and a multimedia adaptation of U.S.A. by John Dos Passos on the Loeb Mainstage.

During summer breaks, Manulis worked on films, most notably as a production assistant on All The President's Men[7] and as assistant art director on Lee Grant's Academy Award nominee The Stranger.

Career

Theater

After graduating from Harvard, Manulis moved to New York, where he began his professional career as Marshall W. Mason's assistant at the renowned[8] Circle Repertory Company.[9] Promoted to casting director in 1980, he continued to work with Mason, co-directing John Bishop's The Great Grandson of Jedediah Kohler[10] and assistant directing[11] Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy, Talley's Folly, Fifth of July and A Tale Told; Hamlet, starring William Hurt, and Murder at the Howard Johnson's, which was produced on Broadway.[12] He directed workshop productions at Circle Rep, Playwrights Horizons, and Manhattan Theatre Club. In addition, Manulis directed Marjorie Appleman's Seduction Duet, which starred Jeff Daniels and won the 1981 Samuel French One-Act Festival.[13][14]

Manulis has also produced several plays, including 1988's Three Ways Home at the Astor Place Theater in New York, and The Umbilical Brothers: THWAK, which was produced in 1999/2000 at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre and at the Tiffany Theater in Los Angeles

In 1979, Manulis was chosen by Arthur Penn, Elia Kazan and Joseph Mankiewicz to become a Founding Member of the Actors Studio Playwrights and Directors Unit.

Film and television

In 1983, Manulis joined the Nederlander Organization, where he brought projects through development and production as an executive producer in their newly formed television and film division. While at Nederlander, Manulis was involved with producing properties ranging from the ACE Award-winning A Case of Libel, starring Daniel J. Travanti and Ed Asner, to Intimate Strangers, a television movie starring Teri Garr and Stacy Keach.[15][16] He created the Comedy Zone, a weekly one-hour series on CBS, which brought together writers and actors such as Neil Simon, Kathleen Turner, Wendy Wasserstein, Joe Mantegna, Jules Feiffer and Christopher Durang.[17]

Manulis went on to serve as Vice President of Film for Edgar Scherick Associates, Senior VP of Production for Jeffrey Lurie's Chestnut Hill Productions, and Head of Worldwide Production and Acquisition for Samuel Goldwyn Films,[18] where he supervised the production or acquisition of films such as The Madness of King George, Lolita, American Buffalo, I Shot Andy Warhol, Welcome to Woop Woop, Bent and Tortilla Soup.

Live events

In 2008, Manulis produced the campaign events involving local, regional and national surrogates for Barack Obama's Campaign for Change in Colorado. He produced the short filmmaking competitions for Microsoft's Imagine Cup in both Brazil (2004) and Japan (2005), and the Liberty Hill Foundation's annual Upton Sinclair Award dinner (2003, 2004, 2005). With Gary Sinise, he directed the Director's Guild of America's memorial tribute to the life of director John Frankenheimer.

Digital media and technology

Manulis co-founded Visionbox Media Group, a production, post-production and distribution consulting company using digital technology to produce and distribute films and television content in 2000,[19] before digital technology became ubiquitous in film and television.[20][21] "Definitions are changing on everything, even what the word 'digital' means", Manulis said in a 2002 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "There are so many technologies that are encompassed in that one word....The one thing everyone agrees on is that 'digital' equals change."[22]

Manulis is the CEO of Screenspaces, a social technology company he founded with his wife, Liz Heller, in 2011. Screenspace's inaugural product offering was the Vwalls social publishing platform.[23]

Activism and philanthropy

Manulis, who was recognized by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors as one of their 2012 Leaders To Watch, is a lifelong philanthropist and activist. He serves on the board of directors for The Getty House Foundation, and on the board of the Liberty Hill Foundation. Manulis and his wife, Liz Heller, received the Liberty Hill Founder's Award in 2010.[24]

Credits
YearTitleCreditMedium
2007Arctic TaleExecutive ProducerFilm (documentary)
2007American Idol
Gives Back		Executive Producer,
documentary segments		TV series (2 episodes)
2006Believe in MeProducerFilm
2006The WoodsProduction ExecutiveFilm
2006The Painted VeilCEO, Visionbox Media GroupFilm
2006First SnowCEO, Visionbox Media GroupFilm
2006The IllusionistCEO, Visionbox Media GroupFilm
2005The L.A. Riot SpectacularProducerFilm
2004Malibu EyesExecutive ProducerVideo
2003Master and CommanderAs Production Executive (MGM)Film
2002Teddy Bear's PicnicExecutive ProducerFilm
2002Charlotte SometimesExecutive ProducerFilm
2001Falling Like ThisExecutive ProducerFilm
2001Tortilla SoupProducerFilm
2001Comics on CampusCo-executive ProducerTV Series pilot
1999The InvisiblesExecutive ProducerFilm
1999The Umbilical Brothers:
THWAK		ProducerTheater (Minetta Lane Theater)
1997Welcome to Woop WoopExecutive ProducerFilm
1997The Chambermaid
on the Titanic		As Production Executive (MGM)Film
1997BentAs Production Executive (MGM)Film
1996FoxfireProducerFilm
1996The Preacher's WifeExecutive in Charge of ProductionFilm
1995The Basketball DiariesProducerFilm
1995NapoleonExecutive in Charge of ProductionFilm
1994The Madness of King GeorgeExecutive in Charge of ProductionFilm
1993Swing KidsProducerFilm
1993DaybreakProducerTelevision Movie
1993BlindsideExecutive ProducerTelevision Movie
1991V.I. WarshawskiCo-executive ProducerFilm
1988Three Ways HomeProducerTheater (Astor Place Theater)
1986Intimate StrangersExecutive ProducerTelevision Movie
1984Comedy ZoneExecutive Producer/CreatorTV Series (5 episodes)
1982The Great Grandson
of Jedediah Kohler		Assistant DirectorTheater (Circle Repertory)
1981Foxtrot by the BayDirectorTheater (Circle Repertory
at the White Barn Theater)
1981The SuicideAssistant DirectorTheater (Broadway)
1981Fifth of JulyAssistant DirectorTheater (Mark Taper Forum)
1981Talley's FollyAssistant DirectorTheater (Mark Taper Forum)
1981A Tale ToldAssistant DirectorTheater (Circle Repertory)
1981Seduction DuetDirectorTheater (Circle Repertory)
1979The DeserterDirectorTheater (Circle Repertory)
1978Twelfth NightAssistant Stage ManaagerTheater (Academy Festival Theater)
1976All The President's MenArt Department liaisonFilm

[25][26]

References
  1. "John Bard Manulis at IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  2. Segalof, Nat (2011). Arthur Penn: American Director. University Press of Kentucky. p. 50.
  3. Noland, Claire. "Martin Manulis, 92; first 'Playhouse 90' producer". September 30, 2007. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  4. No writer attriubted. "Candidates For Class Marshall". October 24, 1977. The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  5. Forbes Staff. "A Profile of America's 20 Best Prep Schools". April 29, 2010. Forbes. Archived from the original on June 20, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  6. Hartocollis, Anemonia. "Cuanto Me Gusta". May 11, 1977. The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  7. "All The President's Men on IMDb". Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  8. Weber, Bruce. "Circle Repertory Enters Upon Adulthood". October 10, 1994. New York TImes. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  9. "John Bard Manulis Biography". Film Reference. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  10. John, Beaufort. "Circle Rep's wildly funny broadside; The Great Grandson of Jedediah Kohler; Comedy by John Bishop. Directed by John Bard Manulis and Marshall W. Mason". March 25, 1982. Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  11. "Richard II / The Great Grandson of Jedediah Kohler – Souvenir Program". Bibliopolis. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  12. "Talley's Folly on Broadway Playbill". Playbill Vault. Archived from the original on March 18, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  13. Appleman, M. (1982). The Seduction Duet (Script). New York: Samuel French, Inc. p. 5. ISBN 9780573600548.
  14. "John Bard Manulis Biography". Film Reference. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  15. Associated Press. "Movie Helps CBS Lead in TV Ratings". January 8, 1986. New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  16. O'Connor, John. "TV: 'Intimate Strangers,' 10 Years After Vietnam". January 1, 1986. New Yprk Times. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  17. Sellars, Pat. "John Manulis will tickle your funny bone – if only CBS lets his best gags get on the air". August 27, 1984. Us Magazine. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  18. "John Manulis at Digital Hollywood". March 20, 2005. Digital Hollywood. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  19. "Vision Media Group: About Us". 2000. Visionbox Media Group Website. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  20. Silverman, Jason. "Learning to Love Digital Video". January 20, 2001. Wired. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  21. Marlowe, Chris. "Digital Producers Answer Call". February 25, 2002. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  22. Huffstutter, PJ. "Oscar Enters the Picture in Film vs. Digital Debate". December 3, 2002. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  23. "Vwalls Content Curation". 2012. Vwalls Website. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  24. "Founders Award: John Manulis and Liz Heller". 2011. Liberty Hill. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  25. "John Manulis Credits at IMDb". Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  26. "John Bard Manulis Credits at Yahoo". Retrieved May 29, 2013.
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