Jack Willis
Encyclopedia
Career
Jack Willis, an award winning documentary filmmaker and television producer, was the co-founder of Link TVLink TV
Link TV is a non-commercial American satellite television network providing "diverse perspectives on world and national issues." It is carried nationally on DirecTV and Dish Network. Link TV was launched as a daily, 24-hour non-commercial network in 1999...
a Direct Broadcast Satellite channel currently in over 34 million American homes via DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
and the Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
.
He has been a producer and executive in commercial, cable and public television. He was a Senior Fellow at George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
’ Open Society Institute
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
where he developed and directed a program on media policy. From 1990 to 1997 he was President and CEO of Twin Cities Public Television
Twin Cities Public Television
Twin Cities Public Television is a non-profit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two Public Broadcasting Service member Public television stations, KTCA-TV and KTCI-TV...
. He was also vice-president of programming and production for CBS Cable
CBS Cable
CBS Cable was an early cable network operated by CBS, Inc., dedicated to the lively arts . It debuted in October 1981 and ceased operations on December 17, 1982.-As a network:...
, where he developed the critically acclaimed performing arts channel, Director of Statue of Liberty Programming for Metro Media Producer’s Corp. and Director of Programming and Production of WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
/13 in New York City.
Jack Willis has created and produced many award winning series including the Emmy-award winning news show The 51st State for WNET/13. He was Co-Executive Producer of PBS’ groundbreaking, Emmy winning, The Great American Dream Machine
The Great American Dream Machine
The Great American Dream Machine was a weekly satirical variety television series, produced in New York City by WNET and broadcast on PBS from 1971 to 1973. The program was hosted by humorist and commentator Marshall Efron. The show centered around skits and satirical political commentary. The...
, and the Emmy-winning series City Within a City, a documentary which was widely credited with helping to achieve passage of Milwaukee’s Open Housing Law.
He has also produced and directed numerous award-winning documentaries. He has produced films for CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
as well as The Human Animal series, with Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue
Phillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
, for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. His independent documentary, Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang
Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang
Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang is a 1980 political documentary film produced and directed by Jack Willis and Saul Landau, written by Jack Willis and Penny Bernstein, narrated by Penny Bernstein with cinematography by Zack Krieger and Haskell Wexler....
, about the government cover up of the fatal effects of the Nevada nuclear bomb tests on military personnel and civilians living downwind from the tests, won an Emmy and the George Polk Award for investigative journalism. Two of his films, Lay My Burden Down, about the plight of black sharecroppers in the rural south, and Every Seventh Child, about Catholic education were shown at the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
. His first film, The Streets of Greenwood about voting rights in Mississippi, won the Gold Medal at the San Francisco Film Festival.
With his wife, Mary, he has written several highly rated network movies and co-authored the book But There Are Always Miracles.
He has a BA and LLB from UCLA and an Honorary Doctor of Law from Saint John's University in Minnesota.
Films
- Stella Adler, Awake and Dream (1992) (Executive Producer)
- The Uncompromising Revolution (1990) (Executive Producer)
- The House of MirthThe House of Mirth (TV film)The House of Mirth is a 1981 American television film directed by Adrian Hall. It is based on Edith Wharton's novel of the same name. It stars Geraldine Chaplin as the protagonist, Lily Bart. The film was part-funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities...
(1981) (Executive Producer)
- Summer (1981) (Executive Producer)
- Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear GangPaul Jacobs and the Nuclear GangPaul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang is a 1980 political documentary film produced and directed by Jack Willis and Saul Landau, written by Jack Willis and Penny Bernstein, narrated by Penny Bernstein with cinematography by Zack Krieger and Haskell Wexler....
(1979) (Producer, Co-Director, Writer) - A political documentary about government suppression of the health hazards of low-level radiation. Paul Jacobs died from lung cancer before the documentary was finished. His doctors believed he contracted it while he was investigating nuclear policies in 1957. Jacobs interviewed civilians and soldiers, survivors of nuclear experiments in the 50s and 60s, testing the effects of radiation. The film won an Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
(1980), George Polk Award for investigative journalism on TV, Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment AwardHugh M. Hefner First Amendment AwardThe Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards are given to people who a panel of judges believes have made significant contributions to the protection and enhancement of the rights enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution...
, and Best Documentary at the Mannheim Film FestivalInternational Filmfestival Mannheim-HeidelbergMannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival is an annual film festival held jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg. The festival was established in 1952. In Mannheim there are six cinema centres and 19 single cinemas.The festival presents arthouse films of...
.
- Power and the Presidency (1975) (Producer)
- The Case Against Milligan (1975) (Producer) Emmy-nominated
- City Within A City - Emmy-award winning documentary about poverty in Wisconsin, widely credited with helping to achieve passage of Milwaukee’s Open Housing law.
- Hard Times in the Country (1969) (Producer, Director, Writer) – Cine Gold Eagle, American Film Festival
- Some of My Best Friends (1969) (Producer)
- Appalachia: Rich Land, Poor People (1968) (Producer, Director, Writer) American Film Festival selection
- Every Seventh Child, (1967) New York Film Festival selection (Producer, Director, Writer)
- Newark Town Meeting (1967) (Producer)
- Lay My Burden Down, (1966) New York Film Festival Selection, Emmy Nominee, Cine Gold Eagle, Brotherhood Award National Conference of Christians and Jews.
- Crime in the Streets (1965) (Producer, Writer, Director)
- The Image MakersDocument (TV series)Document is a Canadian documentary television series which aired on CBC Television from 1962 to 1969.-Production:The first executive producers for this series were Patrick WatsonDouglas Leiterman. Their intention was to air a documentary approximately each month to provide a detailed treatment of a...
(1964) (Producer, Director, Writer)
- The Quiet TakeoverDocument (TV series)Document is a Canadian documentary television series which aired on CBC Television from 1962 to 1969.-Production:The first executive producers for this series were Patrick WatsonDouglas Leiterman. Their intention was to air a documentary approximately each month to provide a detailed treatment of a...
(1964) (Producer, Writer)
- The Streets of Greenwood (1963) - GOLD MEDAL at the San Francisco Film Festival
Television Series (as Executive Producer)
- The Human Animal, (1985)
- The 51st State (1971) 4 Emmys WNET/13
- The Great American Dream MachineThe Great American Dream MachineThe Great American Dream Machine was a weekly satirical variety television series, produced in New York City by WNET and broadcast on PBS from 1971 to 1973. The program was hosted by humorist and commentator Marshall Efron. The show centered around skits and satirical political commentary. The...
(1970) 2 Emmys
- City Within A City – (1968) Emmy, widely credited with helping to achieve passage of Milwaukee’s Open Housing law
Two-Hour Teleplays (with Mary Pleshette Willis)
- Seizure (1980)
- A Question of Guilt (1978)
- Some Kind of Miracle (1976)
Awards
- Emmy Award
- George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting
- Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment AwardHugh M. Hefner First Amendment AwardThe Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards are given to people who a panel of judges believes have made significant contributions to the protection and enhancement of the rights enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution...
- Mannheim Film Festival: Critics' First Prize