HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jeff Katz is an American film producer and comic book author.


Early life

Katz is from Franklin, Michigan. He started a pen-pal relationship with New Line Cinema founder and future boss
Bob Shaye Robert Kenneth Shaye (born March 4, 1939) is an American businessman, film producer, actor, director, and writer. He is the founder of New Line Cinema, a film production studio that distributed films such as ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'', ''Tee ...
after meeting Shaye's father at a dinner party as an eight year old boy. As a teenager, Katz achieved some measure of local fame, including a feature on NBC's The Today Show, as the host of an AM talk radio show on WDFN, which at the time was a sports talk radio station. His radio guests included Jeff Bagwell, Bob Arum, Marv Albert, Mr. T and, notably, several professional wrestlers including
Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...
,
Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanni ...
,
Jimmy Hart James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World ...
and Sherri Martel. It was in this role that he would first catch the eye of World Championship Wrestling executives Eric Bischoff and Zane Bresloff, who would eventually hire Katz for WCW. Katz briefly attended Michigan State before dropping out after accepting an internship at New Line in Los Angeles.


Career


Film producer

Katz, arriving in Los Angeles on his 20th birthday, first worked as an unpaid intern for New Line Cinema where he eventually became a
studio executive A studio executive is an employee of a film studio or a corporation doing business in the entertainment industry. A studio executive may be a chief executive officer (CEO), a chief financial officer (CFO), or a chief operating officer (COO), or be ...
and
film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...
, producing '' Freddy vs. Jason'' at 24 years old, followed by '' Snakes on a Plane'', '' Shoot 'Em Up'' and '' Normal Adolescent Behavior''. While serving as a studio executive at New Line, during the production of '' Blade: Trinity'', he thought Ryan Reynolds was the only actor suitable for the role of Deadpool and championed the idea with the support of Marvel's
Avi Arad Avi Arad (; he, אבי ארד; born 1948) is an Israeli-American film producer who became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, and the chairman, CEO, and founde ...
and
Kevin Feige Kevin Feige ( ; born June 2, 1973) is an American film and television producer who has been the president of Marvel Studios and the primary producer of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise since 2007. The films he has produced have a combin ...
. However, rights issues emerged with
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
and their ''X-Men'' films, and the project did not move forward with that studio. Katz subsequently moved to
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
, finally bringing the Ryan Reynolds deal over to the studio, where he worked on productions such as '' Deadpool'', '' X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', '' X-Men: First Class'' and '' The A-Team'' while there. Katz was named one of Variety's "10 Producers to Watch" and was also named a member of The Hollywood Reporter's annual "35 Under 35." Katz also appears as an interview subject in several documentaries including '' Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy'', '' Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film'', '' Halloween: 25 Years of Terror'' and '' His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday The 13th''. He is currently producing ''The Pope's Exorcist'' starring
Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...
and based on the life of Father Gabriele Amorth for
Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
and
Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
.


Wrestling promotion

Katz began his career in sports entertainment at World Championship Wrestling in 1996, when he was hired by Eric Bischoff at the age of 17. He would spend his late teens alternating between high school and traveling for WCW during the Monday Night Wars. Katz primarily handled play-by-play on PPV events for online streaming alongside color commentator Mark Madden and wrote columns for WCW's print and online outlets. He briefly took over for Gene Okerlund on the WCW hotline during Okerlund's absence, ultimately shifting to his own segment on the hotline following Okerlund's eventual return. He would later shift to hosting a weekly segment on the breakaway New World Order hotline. Katz also served as host of the infamous Ms. NWO pageant at the
Souled Out (1997) Souled Out (1997) was the inaugural Souled Out professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The event took place on January 25, 1997 from the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The pa ...
PPV event. He would eventually segue out of WCW upon his move to Los Angeles to intern at New Line Cinema. During his later
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
career, he briefly returned to wrestling in early 2011, while venting frustrations via his Twitter page with the current wrestling product broadcast worldwide by companies such as WWE and
TNA TNA may refer to: Organisations * Tamil National Alliance, a political coalition in Sri Lanka * The National Alliance, a political party in Kenya * The National Archives (United Kingdom), a UK public body * Tonga Nurses' Association, a trade union ...
. In May 2011, he began a fundraising drive via the
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
website
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
with a goal to raise $100,000 for an alternative wrestling venture. By June 21, 2011, the goal was achieved through 187 pledges, and became the Wrestling Retribution Project. A thirteen-week first season was taped from October 10 to 12, 2011, at the Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. The WRP concept featured a standalone story universe that didn't acknowledge any outside wrestling history or existing promotions like World Wrestling Entertainment. The roster of wrestling talent all played entirely new characters created by Katz, who workshopped the new characters with each performer during pre-production. The series format was designed to feature a full beginning, middle and end similar to the structure of a film or limited television series, including darker themes and characterizations than common to most wrestling programming. The WRP roster included several prominent wrestling talents and rising stars, including Kenny Omega, who would win the series championship beating
Dr. Luther Len Olson (born October 30, 1968), better known by the ring names Dr. Luther or simply Luther, is a Canadian professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling, where he is also a producer. He is also known for his appeara ...
in the finale. Other names involved with the production include MVP,
Chris Hero Chris Spradlin (born December 24, 1979), better known by his ring name Chris Hero, is an American professional wrestler and trainer. He is currently signed to Ring of Honor as a producer. Hero has worked for a number of independent wrestling pr ...
,
Karl Anderson Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980), better known by the ring name Karl Anderson, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand. He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), whe ...
,
Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same d ...
, Luke Gallows, Amazing Red, Timothy Thatcher, Brian Cage, L. A. Knight, Shawn Daivari,
Emil Sitoci Emil Sitoci (born May 17, 1985) is a Dutch professional wrestler and television personality, currently working for the German professional wrestling promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling Professional wrestling career Sitoci started his career in 2 ...
, Sami Callihan, Alex Reynolds, Adam Pearce, Joey Ryan, Pat Buck, "Psycho" Mike Rollins and more. Acting as agents and producers for the WRP tapings were
Christopher Daniels Daniel Christopher Covell (born March 24, 1970), better known by the ring name Christopher Daniels, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is the Head of Talent Relations. He is best kno ...
,
Lance Storm Lance Timothy Evers (; born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Extreme Championship Wrestling (EC ...
and Tommy Dreamer. Katz returned to play-by-play for the first time since WCW for the tapings, being joined by Nigel McGuinness (as "Vyvyan Edmondson") on color commentary. WRP was never released in the promised episodic format, but the filmed footage was uploaded to YouTube by Katz in March 2020, followed shortly thereafter by audio commentaries, behind the scenes footage and additional filmed materials from WRP's sister series ''The Underground'' starring The Young Bucks for AwesomenessTV.


Comics career

In 2005, Katz began writing for
Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...
, making his comics debut in a short story for ''
The Wicked West ''The Wicked West'' is a graphic novel series written by Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell and Illustrated by Neil Vokes. It is published by Image Comics. He wrote ''
Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash ''Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash'' is a six-issue comic book limited series that was released in November 2007 and ran until March 2008. It was published by Wildstorm (DC Comics) and Dynamite Entertainment. Based on the original ''Freddy vs. Jason 2'' ...
'' and the sequel '' Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors'' based on his experience with the '' Freddy vs. Jason film'' for DC imprint '' WildStorm,'' which was preceded by a successful run at DC Comics proper, on titles such as '' Booster Gold'' with co-writer Geoff Johns and artist Dan Jurgens. He created the action-adventure comic ''Crosshair'' for Top Cow, which was optioned to Lionsgate for film. He is the co-creator of the DC Comics villain Black Beetle. Katz began his own comic book production company, American Original.


Personal life

Katz lives in Los Angeles. In addition to his film career, Katz had a popular multiyear run as a host for ESPN Los Angeles, most notably in a heated segment with
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
analyst
Brian Windhorst Brian Windhorst (born January 29, 1978) is an American sportswriter for ESPN.com who covers the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer for the ''Akron Beacon Journal'' from 2003 through the summer of 200 ...
over Katz's inside knowledge of LeBron James's jump to the
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
. Katz would also have a brief run with ESPN New York in 2018, including hosting ''The Jeff Katz Show'' on nighttime radio for WEPN-FM.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Jeff Living people American comics writers American film producers Date of birth missing (living people) People from Franklin, Michigan Year of birth missing (living people)