Paulist Productions is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

film

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

founded in 1960 by the

Paulist Paulists, or Paulines, is the name used for Roman Catholic orders and congregations under the patronage of Paul of Thebes the First Hermit. From the time that the abode and virtues of Paul of Thebes were revealed to Antony the Abbot, various comm ...

priest Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser. The Paulists describe the company as a "creator of films and television programs that uncover God’s presence in the contemporary human experience". As of 2018, producer Mike Sullivan is president of Paulist Productions. Paulist has generated a range of programming for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

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and UPtv.

History

Ellwood "Bud" Kieser was born in Philadelphia in 1929. After graduating from

La Salle College La Salle College (LSC) (, Demonym: Lasallian) is a boys' secondary school in Hong Kong. It was established in 1932 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Roman Catholic religious teaching order founded by St. John Ba ...

in 1950, he joined the

Paulist Fathers The Paulist Fathers, officially named the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle ( la, Societas Sacerdotum Missionariorum a Sancto Paulo Apostolo), abbreviated CSP, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men founded ...

. He earned his Ph.D. in theology of communications from the

Graduate Theological Union The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of eight private independent American theological schools and eleven centers and affiliates. Seven of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California. The GTU was founded in 1962 ...

in Berkeley, Calif. in 1973, writing his dissertation on ''Cinema as a Religious Experience''.Weinraub, Bernard. "Rev. Ellwood Kieser, Priest And Film Producer, Dies at 71", ''The New York Times'', September 20, 2000
/ref> The original purpose of the company was to produce ''

Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intu ...

'', an American religious-themed weekly anthology series that aired in syndication from October 1960 to January 1985. ''Insight'' earned six

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

during its twenty-three year run. In 1974, the

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

for film and television writing was founded by Kieser and the men and women of Paulist Productions.Eulogy by Frank Desiderio, President of Paulist Productions and Chairman of the Board for The HUMANITAS Prize

mentions that John Sacret Young (a present Humanitas board member) wrote the script for ''Romero''. In 1984, Paulist produced the ABC prime time special, ''

The Fourth Wise Man ''The Fourth Wise Man'' is a 1985 American television film directed by Michael Ray Rhodes and starring Martin Sheen, Eileen Brennan and Alan Arkin. The story was adapted from Henry van Dyke Jr.'s 1895 short story, '' The Other Wise Man''. Cast ...

''.

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reviewer, John J. O'Connor said, "Father Kieser has generally proved adept at attracting first-rate talent to Paulist projects, and ''The Fourth Wise Man'' indicates his powers of persuasion are stronger than ever." Adapted by

Tom Fontana Tom Fontana (born September 12, 1951) is an American screenwriter, writer, and television producer. Fontana worked on NBC's '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' and created HBO's ''Oz.'' Early life and education Fontana was born on the west sid ...

from the short story by

Henry van Dyke Jr. Henry Jackson van Dyke Jr. (November 10, 1852 – April 10, 1933) was an American author, educator, diplomat, and Presbyterian clergyman. Early life Van Dyke was born on November 10, 1852, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Henry ...

, the film starred

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

Eileen Brennan Eileen Brennan (born Verla Eileen Regina Brennen; September 3, 1932 – July 28, 2013) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the satire ''Divorce American Style'' (1967), followed by a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich's ''The L ...

and

Alan Arkin Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...

Paulist Pictures was later formed for the purpose of film production, creating the features ''

Romero The name Romero is a nickname type of surname for a Roman or an Italian. The name was originally derived from the Latin word Romaeus and the Greek word Romaios, which mean Roman. #A person on a religious journey or pilgrimage from Rome (possibly t ...

'' (1989) and '' Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story'' (1996). After Kieser's death in September 2000, Frank Desiderio, C.S.P. became president of the company. He broadened the scope to produce television documentaries for the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

, including ''Judas - Traitor or Friend'', ''Joseph: The Silent Saint'', ''The Twelve Apostles'', ''St. Peter: The Rock'' and ''Paul, the Apostle''. ''Healing and Prayer: Power or Placebo'' was also produced for A&E. He was followed by Eric Andrews, C.S.P. In 2004, Paulist Productions released the made-for-television film ''

Judas Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

'' which aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and was written by writer/producer

, who also served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

. In 2013, Paulist filmed the CBS special ''A New York Christmas to Remember''. The special of Lessons and Carols was taped at St. Paul the Apostle Church with choirs from St. Paul’s and Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. Telecast on December 24 at 11:35 p.m., it also featured

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working ma ...

and the nativity puppetry of

Jane Henson Jane Ann Henson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née Nebel; June 16, 1934 – April 2, 2013) was an American puppeteer and the wife of Jim Henson. Early life Jane Ann Nebel was born and raised in St. Albans, Queens, she met Henson when she ...

. Later productions include ''The Town That Came A-Courtin'' and ''Christmas for a Dollar'' for UpTV, and the short Christmas film ''No Ordinary Shepherd''. Paulist also released the short film ''He Knows My Name'' and finished production on the feature film ''The Miracle Maker''.

Chris Donahue Chris Donahue (born John Christopher Donahue) is an American film and television producer. He began his career as a producer in television news and documentaries, then transitioned to narrative film and television at the American Film Institute ...

was president of Paulist Productions from July 2014 to 2018, followed by Michael Sullivan. In 2015 Paulist Productions moved from Pacific Palisades to Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. On September 8, 2015, ''

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'' reported that publisher

Author Solutions Author Solutions is the parent company of the self publishing companies/imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, Xlibris, Palibrio, and Booktango. Author Solutions also maintains partnerships with traditional book publishers Simon ...

(an imprint of Penguin) made a first-look deal with Paulist. In 2020, a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

, ''Fr. Bud: Hollywood Priest'', was announced.

References

External links

* * Ellwood E. Kieser
Why I make movies: Paulist Productions head explains his dedication to religious-based films and documentaries
''National Catholic Reporter'', April 9, 1999
Paulist Fathers official site
{{Authority control Christian film production companies Mass media companies established in 1960 Film production companies of the United States Paulist Order Catholic media Catholic television Television production companies of the United States 1960 establishments in California

History

See also

References

External links