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PAUL A. KAUFMAN
PAUL A. KAUFMAN
recently made his directorial debut on the critically acclaimed and award winning "Run the
Wild Fields." It followed an eight-year career of trying to convince people to make the film.
Born in London, England, Kaufman
knew he wanted to direct at the age of eight, when he got his hands on his father's 8mm Kodak "Brownie". A year later, in 1974 he moved to Los Angeles.
He began his career at eighteen, in the entertainment industry as a "Go-Between" messenger. Zooming around town, having to get the package there on-time, Kaufman felt the "team rush" of the movie
business. He also learned a few tricks, like how to get on a studio lot, by entering, no-questions-asked, through the messenger gate. Although, he loved the daily grind of being a messenger and making $135
a week, Kaufman moved on to higher ground, as a production assistant. His first job was working a "Mighty Dog" commercial. He was responsible
for opening the dog food and filling the dog's bowls between takes. Between gigs, Kaufman would crash all of the studios and go from set to set, watching.
Kaufman then took a job as an assistant agent at The Agency. A year later he left to open his own personal management company. At 19, he was working from his parents home. Paul soon signed and managed Josh
Brolin, Michael Richards, Esai Morales and many other actors. Kaufman, wanted to understand his acting clients, so he studied acting with Anthony Abeson, a teacher from The Actor's Studio in New York. After
seven years of management, Paul realized he was getting further from his directing dream and left being a manager. He realized that he would be able to reach his dream through producing.
He subsequently produced 30 episodes of "Harvey Shine Presents", a comedy series for SHOWTIME. He then went on to produce and direct 11
episodes of his own documentary series, Hollywood Anthologies, also for SHOWTIME, for which he won the Gold Award at the Houston Film Festival. He then produced the short film Lift, starring Richard Benjamin and Fisher
Stevens, which won multiple awards including Best Short Film at the Houston, Algarves and Washington Film Festivals. While looking for special material to direct, Paul read RUN THE WILD
FIELDS. He knew it would be his first film, but he didn't know it would take him eight years to get made. "Run" received critical acclaim from THE WALLSTREET JOURNAL, LA TIMES, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS,
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and THE DAILY VARIETY. It also has won numerous awards. Shortly after Paul founded THE KAUFMAN COMPANY, it found a niche in television movies. THE KAUFMAN COMPNAY produced five movies for CBS
including "The Disappearance of Vonnie", "Dangerous Intentions", the critically acclaimed "A Promise to Carolyn", "Co-ed Call Girl" and the soon to be released
"Jewel" starring Farrah Fawcett. Kaufman then produced the feature film, "Lover's Knot", starring Bill Campbell, Jennifer Grey, Adam Baldwin and Tim Curry. He also wrote
and produced the television movies "Thirst" for NBC and most recently, "Emma's Wish" for CBS. He is an accomplished author, having written his first non-fiction book,
Max Factor's Hollywood, published by General Publishing Group. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, son and daughter.