Robert Wertheimer (born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a writer, producer, director and executive producer of film and television productions. Wertheimer started working in 1977. Wertheimer graduated from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

's Economics and Business Administration program and also studied Communication Arts at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

in Montreal under the tutelage of

Marc Gervais Marc Gervais, S.J., (December 3, 1929 – March 25, 2012) was a Canadian Jesuit priest, film scholar, writer, and film consultant. Biography Early life Gervais was the second child of Césaire Gervais, a Superior Court judge, and his wife, Syl ...

. Deeply influenced by Gervais, Wertheimer gave particular focus to

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

Cinema and the impact of

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

and others is still readily apparent in his work. After a long career making theatrical feature films (including Deepa Mehta's ''

Sam & Me ''Sam & Me'' is a 1991 Canadian drama film directed by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta (in her directorial debut) and written by Ranjit Chowdhry, who also stars in the film with Peter Boretski and Om Puri. The film went on to win an honourable ...

'' which was honoured at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

the year of its release, box office champion ''

Bollywood/Hollywood ''Bollywood/Hollywood'' is a 2002 Canadian romantic comedy drama film directed by Deepa Mehta and starring Rahul Khanna and Lisa Ray. The film was lighthearted, humorous, and family-oriented. The film pokes fun at traditional Indian stereotypes ...

'', also written and directed by Deepa Mehta) and television series ('' Friday the 13th: The Series''; ''

War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was i ...

''; '' RoboCop: The Series''; and including his Gemini for Best Series for '' Due South''), Wertheimer made the choice to write and create his own material. In 2004, his first television series as co-creator and

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

, ''

Charlie Jade ''Charlie Jade'' is a science fiction television series filmed mainly in Cape Town, South Africa. It stars Jeffrey Pierce in the title role, as a detective from a parallel universe (fiction), parallel universe who finds himself trapped in our univ ...

'', commenced production in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa. Ultimately, 21 episodes of the program would be made. ''Charlie Jade'' was inspired by '' The Culture of Make Believe'' by activist author,

Derrick Jensen Derrick Jensen (born December 19, 1960) is an American ecophilosopher, writer, author, teacher and environmentalist in the anarcho-primitivist tradition, though he rejects the label "anarchist". ''Utne Reader'' named Jensen among "50 Visionari ...

. It was designed to echo Jensen's themes of corporate greed and arrogance and the futility of continuing to pursue an impersonal, materialist agenda on a global scale. These themes are apparent in the design of the story across three parallel universes as well as in the perspective of the main characters who are depicted struggling with the personal and ethical dilemmas triggered by their actions in these universes. In addition to South Africa, ''Charlie Jade'' has been broadcast in Canada, Japan, Eastern Europe, France and the United Kingdom. In 2008, the

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. ...

acquired rights to broadcast the show in the United States. Wertheimer's next creative effort was the television series '' Across the River to Motor City'' which he co-created with

Denis McGrath Denis McGrath (September 21, 1968 – March 23, 2017) was a Canadian screenwriter and producer. Born in New York City, he resided and worked in Toronto. McGrath started his career as a TV producer at the educational network TVOntario. In 1993, ...

. Produced in partnership with Richard Mozer and David Devine of Devine Entertainment, ''Across the River to Motor City'' was an examination of two stages of one man's life threaded through a mystery involving the conspiracy speculation surrounding the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

. Wertheimer lives in Los Angeles, California.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wertheimer, Robert People from Montreal Canadian film producers Canadian television producers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)