Roger Goodman (director)
Encyclopedia
Roger Goodman is currently an independent television and live event producer, specializing in all aspects of event production. He worked at ABC for 43 years as a television director and producer. His career has spanned sports, news and entertainment. He has done olympics, elections, wars, weddings, funerals, and everything in between. He is currently the head of RG Productions.
His resume includes breaking news and war coverage; ABC 2000 – the unprecedented broadcast utilizing over 400 cameras from around the world for 24 continuous hours; nine Olympic Games, four Super Bowl halftime shows, the Indianapolis 500, the Kentucky Derby, Wide World of Sports, ten New York City Marathons, as well as hundreds of hours of sports coverage; red carpet pre-shows for the Primetime Emmys and Academy Awards, two Daytime Emmy telecasts, and the critically acclaimed 81st Annual Academy Awards® for which he received Emmy and DGA nominations for achievement in directing.
In addition to directing and producing, he has been instrumental in a number technological advances and industry firsts. Under his direction, successful transmissions of live programming for Good Morning America were broadcast from a submerged nuclear submarine; the aircraft carrier Enterprise – the largest live television endeavor ever attempted aboard a moving aircraft carrier at sea; and from a speeding eleven-car train traveling throughout the Northeast. He has designed and built studios and sets ranging from the four-story Times Square Studios – the home of Good Morning America – to ABC news, magazine shows and specials. He was also responsible for the overall look and design of all of ABC News and has directed the development of ABC’s efforts in interactive, enhanced television, virtual-reality production sets and other integrated new media projects.
He is currently the head of RG Productions Inc.. RG Productions does consulting for live events, television, direction, and web production. Their clients include television networks, production companies, and commercial businesses.
in 1965. "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition... This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!" was the famous tagline for the show. He was a production assistant from 1965-1968 when he became an associate director with the show until 1976. Goodman was a director for ABC Sports from 1976 until 1980 when started working in for both ABC News and ABC Sports. He continued to work in both until 1985 when he moved exclusively to News.
He worked on broadcasts ranging from college football, horse racing, auto racing, bowling, boxing, golf to Frank Sinatra: The Main Event Live. He was the director and/or coordinating director for nine Olympic Games, with responsibilities that included the design and creation of the Broadcast Centers. He covered the Summer and Winter Games in Grenoble, Mexico City, Munich, Innsbruck, Montreal, Lake Placid, Los Angeles, Sarajevo and Calgary.
Goodman's projects throughout his tenure included developing the creative design and direction of ABC's political coverage since 1980; directing all Presidential conventions, debates, elections and inaugurations; executive director of ABC News' 15-hour coverage of the one-year anniversary of September 11; co-executive producer and director of In Search of America: A July 4 Musical Celebration. He played a large part in the development and execution of the Times Squares studio where GMA, the Millennium, and many more shows have been produced. He also directed the Peabody Award-winning coverage of the September 11th attacks and aftermath, which was broadcast live for over 91-hours, making it the longest consecutive news report in ABC history. He served as co-executive producer and director of Norman Lear's Independence Day 2001, which celebrated the 225th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
On December 31, 1999, Goodman was the co-executive producer and director of ABC 2000: The Millennium, the distinctive and unprecedented 24-hour news and entertainment broadcast where 175 million viewers took a world tour of New Years’ celebrations that took place in more than 60 countries. Goodman directed the entire 24 hours, using over 400 cameras, 32 satellites, 4 control rooms and a staff of 1,000 technicians.
Goodman has designed and directed 20/20, Primetime Live, Nightline, This Week, Good Morning America’s live interview by Diane Sawyer with Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley; Primetime Live's tours of the White House and the Kremlin; the 50th anniversary of D-Day; He created the visual concept for televised town hall meetings for Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings. He also directed the historic town hall meetings that aired during the week-long series Nightline in South Africa and Nightline in the Holy Land, the critically acclaimed series examining Arab-Israeli conflicts; and the unprecedented four-hour Nightline on AIDS, at the time, the most comprehensive coverage of the epidemic ever shown on network television. He also served as director for other highly acclaimed ABC News Specials including Liberty Weekend, Capital to Capital, the historic series which marked the first live exchanges between members of Congress and the high-ranking officials at the Kremlin, and many Peter Jennings's children's specials..
.
Other entertainment credits include directing the Daytime Emmy Awards, Red Carpet pre-shows for the Primetime Emmys and the Academy Awards; David Blaine: Frozen in Time, Extreme Makeover Home Edition Live, the unprecedented live Michael Jackson Talks…to Oprah special event (which drew a worldwide viewing audience of 110 million people,) the original Battle of the Network Stars, and ABC’s Upfront presentations live from Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall.
In 2010 he was awarded the Life Time Achievement in News Directing award by the Director's Guild of America.
Career
As a veteran of ABC/Disney, innovation, invention and spectacle are the earmarks of Roger Goodman’s career as a director-producer working in three areas of television programming: news, sports and entertainment. The crowning achievement in each of these areas being Presidential elections, Olympic Games and the Academy Awards. Mr. Goodman is also the recipient of the DGA Lifetime Achievement in News Direction Award for 2010.His resume includes breaking news and war coverage; ABC 2000 – the unprecedented broadcast utilizing over 400 cameras from around the world for 24 continuous hours; nine Olympic Games, four Super Bowl halftime shows, the Indianapolis 500, the Kentucky Derby, Wide World of Sports, ten New York City Marathons, as well as hundreds of hours of sports coverage; red carpet pre-shows for the Primetime Emmys and Academy Awards, two Daytime Emmy telecasts, and the critically acclaimed 81st Annual Academy Awards® for which he received Emmy and DGA nominations for achievement in directing.
In addition to directing and producing, he has been instrumental in a number technological advances and industry firsts. Under his direction, successful transmissions of live programming for Good Morning America were broadcast from a submerged nuclear submarine; the aircraft carrier Enterprise – the largest live television endeavor ever attempted aboard a moving aircraft carrier at sea; and from a speeding eleven-car train traveling throughout the Northeast. He has designed and built studios and sets ranging from the four-story Times Square Studios – the home of Good Morning America – to ABC news, magazine shows and specials. He was also responsible for the overall look and design of all of ABC News and has directed the development of ABC’s efforts in interactive, enhanced television, virtual-reality production sets and other integrated new media projects.
He is currently the head of RG Productions Inc.. RG Productions does consulting for live events, television, direction, and web production. Their clients include television networks, production companies, and commercial businesses.
Sports
He began his ABC career as a production assistant on ABC's Wide World of Sports with Jim McKayJim McKay
James Kenneth McManus , better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist....
in 1965. "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition... This is ABC's Wide World of Sports!" was the famous tagline for the show. He was a production assistant from 1965-1968 when he became an associate director with the show until 1976. Goodman was a director for ABC Sports from 1976 until 1980 when started working in for both ABC News and ABC Sports. He continued to work in both until 1985 when he moved exclusively to News.
He worked on broadcasts ranging from college football, horse racing, auto racing, bowling, boxing, golf to Frank Sinatra: The Main Event Live. He was the director and/or coordinating director for nine Olympic Games, with responsibilities that included the design and creation of the Broadcast Centers. He covered the Summer and Winter Games in Grenoble, Mexico City, Munich, Innsbruck, Montreal, Lake Placid, Los Angeles, Sarajevo and Calgary.
News
When Goodman started at ABC News, he was the Director of Production Development. He was promoted to Director of Production and Design for both News and Sports in 1985. In 1990, he became Senior Director with responsibility for the on-ar look and design of all ABC News broadcasts. He continued to move up the ranks in 1996 when he was named Executive Director of Special Projects. In this newly created position, he was responsible for the design, direction and overall look of special programming for all of the Network's divisions, including News, Sports, and Entertainment. Only two years later, in 1998, he became Vice President of Special Projects. This gave him a new set of responsibilities including overseeing the development of ABC's entrance in interactive television and introduction of computer-generated "virtual-reality" sets to speed production and enhance versatility in the production process.Goodman's projects throughout his tenure included developing the creative design and direction of ABC's political coverage since 1980; directing all Presidential conventions, debates, elections and inaugurations; executive director of ABC News' 15-hour coverage of the one-year anniversary of September 11; co-executive producer and director of In Search of America: A July 4 Musical Celebration. He played a large part in the development and execution of the Times Squares studio where GMA, the Millennium, and many more shows have been produced. He also directed the Peabody Award-winning coverage of the September 11th attacks and aftermath, which was broadcast live for over 91-hours, making it the longest consecutive news report in ABC history. He served as co-executive producer and director of Norman Lear's Independence Day 2001, which celebrated the 225th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
On December 31, 1999, Goodman was the co-executive producer and director of ABC 2000: The Millennium, the distinctive and unprecedented 24-hour news and entertainment broadcast where 175 million viewers took a world tour of New Years’ celebrations that took place in more than 60 countries. Goodman directed the entire 24 hours, using over 400 cameras, 32 satellites, 4 control rooms and a staff of 1,000 technicians.
Goodman has designed and directed 20/20, Primetime Live, Nightline, This Week, Good Morning America’s live interview by Diane Sawyer with Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley; Primetime Live's tours of the White House and the Kremlin; the 50th anniversary of D-Day; He created the visual concept for televised town hall meetings for Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings. He also directed the historic town hall meetings that aired during the week-long series Nightline in South Africa and Nightline in the Holy Land, the critically acclaimed series examining Arab-Israeli conflicts; and the unprecedented four-hour Nightline on AIDS, at the time, the most comprehensive coverage of the epidemic ever shown on network television. He also served as director for other highly acclaimed ABC News Specials including Liberty Weekend, Capital to Capital, the historic series which marked the first live exchanges between members of Congress and the high-ranking officials at the Kremlin, and many Peter Jennings's children's specials..
Entertainment
Mr Goodman directed the critically acclaimed 81st Academy Awards81st Academy Awards
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
.
Other entertainment credits include directing the Daytime Emmy Awards, Red Carpet pre-shows for the Primetime Emmys and the Academy Awards; David Blaine: Frozen in Time, Extreme Makeover Home Edition Live, the unprecedented live Michael Jackson Talks…to Oprah special event (which drew a worldwide viewing audience of 110 million people,) the original Battle of the Network Stars, and ABC’s Upfront presentations live from Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall.
Awards
Goodman has received numerous awards for his work, including 61 Emmy Nominations and 29 Emmy Awards, three Christopher Awards, three Peabody Awards, two Edward R. Murrow Awards, the first Gold Baton ever presented by the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, a George Polk Award, two International Broadcast Design Awards, the 1988 Directors Guild of America Directorial Achievement Award for the Indianapolis 500, six Videographer's Awards, a Communicator Award, American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, and a1992 Cine Award.In 2010 he was awarded the Life Time Achievement in News Directing award by the Director's Guild of America.