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University Calendar

Films and Filmmakers Series

April 2, 2019, 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location School of Communication and Media - Presentation Hall
seriesFilms and Filmmakers

Steve McCarthy is an Emmy Award-winning network TV news producer, documentary director, and commercial director. A former staff producer for 60 Minutes and Dateline, he formed McCarthy Productions, Inc in 2001 and produced, photographed and edited projects for 60 Minutes, Dateline, Charlie Rose, MSNBC, PBS, BBC America, Reuters and others. In 2006, he directed and wrote an independent film Finding Paddy and he is currently in production of a pilot for a series called Who Says I Can’t, which will feature extreme athletes with disabilities. He currently directs commercials for HavasEdge. Steve McCarthy is a member of the Director’s Guild of America.

Jonathan Alter is a liberal/progressive American journalist, best-selling author, documentary filmmaker, and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011 and has written three New York Times best-selling books about American presidents. He is a contributing correspondent to NBC News, where since 1996 he has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. Alter was one of the first magazine or newspaper reporters to appear on MSNBC. When the shows were on the air, he could often be heard on Imus in the Morning and The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio. In 2013 and 2014, Alter served as an executive producer on the Amazon Studio's production Alpha House, which starred John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, and Matt Malloy. In 2019, he co-produced and co-directed "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists," a documentary about the columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill.

John Block, a native of Chicago, is a 1972 graduate from Northwestern University. In 1977 he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in filmmaking from the New York University. From 1980 until 1983 he worked for WCBS and then came to NBC in 1983. Initially, he was a "Special Segment" producer for the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. In 1990 he became a producer/writer for Real Life with Jane Pauley and in 1991 a producer/writer for the Brokaw Reports. From 1992 until 2009 Block was a producer/writer for Dateline NBC. Since 2010, Block has been an independent producer and filmmaker. Block's subjects cover a wide spectrum of social issues and problems including poverty, homelessness, medical issues, broken families, drugs, crime, and education. He has also made videos for educational and medical support programs.