Jack Blum
Jack Blum is a Canadian writer, producer, director, story editor, actor, educator and communications consultant based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With his longtime partner Sharon Corder, he has written and produced more than fifty hours of television drama for both Canadian and American broadcasters. His early acting career included the role of Spaz in the comedy hit Meatballs, as well as appearances in dozens of other feature films and television shows. In the theatre, he directed productions across Canada (including several world premieres) and was associate artistic director at the La Jolla Playhouse in California. He has written many articles about the film industry for periodicals (Take one, Montague, POV), taught courses in screenwriting, and been active as a lobbyist for indigenous Canadian film production. He has worked as a communications consultant for several prominent Canadian politicians. Since 1998 he has served as chair of the Credit Arbitration Committee of the Writers Guild of Canada.
Biography
Early life and education
Born in Toronto, Blum grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, and trained as an actor at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Career
On graduating from NTS he appeared in many feature films and television shows, including most notably Meatballs. In the early Eighties, Blum began writing for television. In addition to episodes of the series Sons and Daughters and The Edison Twins, he co-wrote and was Associate Producer on the television movie Hockey Night, starring Megan Follows and Rick Moranis, for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the award-winning short drama The Umpire for the National Film Board of Canada. In 1985 he began working with co-writer Sharon Corder. Together they co-created the celebrated and long-running series Traders, as well as a host of other episodes of television drama. They were Story Editors on the syndicated series Catwalk, Co-Producers on Traders (Global), and Supervising Producers on Power Play (CTV).
In 1998 they wrote and produced a feature film, Babyface (directed and co-written by Blum, produced and co-written by Corder), which premiered at the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes in 1998.[1]
In 2003, the team produced a short drama, DNA, with Corder scripting and Blum directing. The film stars Michael Riley as a grieving widower struggling to get over his loss. In 2005, he and Corder founded Reel Canada, an educational program aimed at promoting Canadian film in high schools.
As of 2008, Blum and Corder are developing a new feature film, Crete on the Half Shell, based on the travel memoir of the same name by Byron Ayanoglu, and a four-part miniseries, Sunnyside, about Toronto’s Great Heat Wave of 1936.
Filmography
Movies
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | East End Hustle | Ernie | |
| 1979 | Meatballs | Spaz | |
| 1980 | Hog Wild | Gil Lasky | |
| 1981 | Happy Birthday to Me | Alfred Morris[2] | |
| 1983 | The Funny Farm | Peter Bowman | |
| Self Defense | Patrick | ||
| 1989 | Renegades | Keith Weinstock | |
| Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster | Billy Ray | ||
| 1994 | Exotica | Scalper | |
| 2008 | Adoration | Passenger & Professor On-Line | |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper | Louis LeClerc | TV Movie |
| Cagney & Lacey | Hasid #2 | 1 Episode: Pilot | |
| 1983 | Strawberry Shortcake: Housewarming Surprise | Captain Cackle | TV Movie |
| 1985 | The Littlest Hobo | 1 Episode: Pandora | |
| Shellgame | Winton | TV Movie | |
| 1987-89 | Street Legal | Roger Pitman / Collins | 2 Episodes: A Little Knowledge, Slipping Through the Cracks |
| 1989 | The Twilight Zone | Advisor | 1 Episode: The Wall |
| Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mickey | 1 Episode: Diamonds Aren't Forever | |
| Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman | Larry | TV Movie | |
| 1991 | Dracula: The Series | Lawrence Lei / Alfred | 1 Episode: Bats in the Attic |
| Sweating Bullets | Coin Collector | 1 Episode: Big Brother is Watching | |
| 1993 | Gross Misconduct: The Life of Brian Spencer | Leaf T.V. Director | TV Movie |
| 1994-95 | Kung Fu: The Legend Continues | Bernie / Louis | 2 Episodes: May I Ride with You, Deadly Fashion |
| 2003 | Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story | Harvey Pollock, QC | TV Movie |
For Kids’ Records, Blum also scripted and directed the children’s audio tape A Child's Look at - What it Means to be Jewish, and, with Corder, A Child's look at - Mozart.
Awards
The Umpire: First Prize at the Festival of the Humanities, San Francisco Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival, New York Hockey Night: C.F.T.A. Award, Best Feature Length Production ACTRA Award Nominee; Best Original Screenplay, ACTRA Award Nominee; Best Children's Program What it Means to be Jewish: Best Spoken Word Recording, National Independent American Distributors Award, San Francisco Getting out: Dora Mavor Moore Award for Artistic Excellence and Theatrical Innovation
References
- ↑ Pratley, G. (2003) A Century of Canadian Cinema, Lynx Images ISBN 1-894073-21-5, pg 260
- ↑ Jack Blum - Filmography fandango.com. Retrieved March 2011
External links
- Jack Blum at the Internet Movie Database