| Dick Wolf | |
|---|---|
| |
| Full Name: | Richard Anthony Wolf |
| Date of birth: | December 20, 1946 |
| Place of birth: | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Active: | 1985-present |
| Role: | Television Producer Writer |
| Show(s): | Cold Justice Cold Justice: Sex Crimes Criminal Confessions |
| “ | [Law & Order] has offended the sensitivities of a variety of special interest groups, including, but not limited to Jews, Catholics, Protestants, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Aryans, gays and lesbians, Italians, Russians, Greeks, conservatives, liberals, pro-life and pro-choice advocates, and the list goes on ad nauseum. | ” |
–Dick Wolf | ||
Dick Wolf, a two-time Emmy Award winner (13-time Emmy nominated), Grammy Award winner and New York Times best-selling author, is one of television's most respected drama series creator/producers and the architect of one of the most successful brands in the history of television - "Law & Order."
He serves as creator and executive producer of all of the "Law & Order"- branded series from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, including "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," which made television history which is beginning its 22nd season and is the longest-running live action primetime series in the history of television (surpassing "Gunsmoke" and "Law & Order," both of which ran for 20 seasons). Wolf has extended his branding expertise to the Windy City, with his Chicago-based NBC series: "Chicago Fire" (season nine); "Chicago P.D." (season eight) and "Chicago Med" (season six), with all three series receiving three-year pick-ups. Wolf's CBS brand, "FBI," which was the network's top-rated new drama series for the 2018-19 television season, continued its stellar performance in season two and is now poised for season three. The success of "FBI" has spawned the spinoff "FBI Most Wanted," which consistently wins its time period and has been renewed for season two.
Wolf's seventh broadcast series is "Law & Order: Organized Crime," which premieres on NBC in early 2021 and showcases the return of former "SVU" detective Elliot Stabler. In addition, NBC's new streaming service Peacock, which launched in July 2020, announced an unprecedented deal for Wolf's "Law & Order" and "Chicago" branded series.
Wolf has also expanded into non-fiction as executive producer of Oxygen's critically acclaimed "Murder for Hire," "Cold Justice" and "Criminal Confessions." He also executive produced USA's docuseries "Inside The FBI: New York," the successful A&E series "Nightwatch" and its spinoffs, and Fox's "First Responders Live." Wolf Entertainment has also expanded into audio content with the successful debut of the podcast "Hunted," in conjunction with Endeavor Audio and executive produced by Elliot Wolf.
Wolf's company also produced two award-winning documentaries. "Twin Towers" is the 2003 Academy Award-winning documentary short about two brothers - one a policeman and the other a fireman - who lost their lives in the line of duty on Sept. 11. "When You're Strange" is the Emmy-nominated documentary about the 1960s group The Doors, which won a Grammy Award for Outstanding Longform Video in 2011.
In 2007, Wolf executive produced (with Tom Thayer) the critically acclaimed HBO original movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," which won six Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie. The film tells the tragic and powerful story of the subjugation and cultural extermination of the Native American, and garnered a record 17 Emmy nominations, the most of the 2006-07 television season. The film also received the prestigious Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critic's Choice Award for Best Picture Made for Television. Wolf and Thayer have teamed up again with the high-profile limited series "American Babylon," which is in development at Showtime.
Wolf's debut novel, "The Intercept," was a New York Times bestselling thriller about Jeremy Fisk, a new kind of hero for a new kind of enemy. His follow up book, "The Execution," debuted in 2014 and, like its predecessor, was both popular and critically acclaimed. "The Ultimatum," the third installment of the series, was released in 2015 from HarperCollins.
Wolf's "Law & Order"-branded series continue to rewrite the annals of television history. "Law & Order" earned 11 consecutive Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nominations - the record for most consecutive series Emmy nominations in the history of television (tied with "Cheers" and "M*A*S*H") - and won the coveted Emmy in that category in 1997. Additional accolades "Law & Order" has garnered include the highly coveted Peabody Award; multiple Emmys; the Crystal Apple Award from New York City's Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting; the Writer's Guild Award for Television; and numerous other high-ranking tributes.
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," which has received a three-year pick up from NBC, has been one of the network's top performers. Mariska Hargitay, who plays Det. Olivia Benson, has received seven Emmy nominations for Lead Actress in a Drama Series, winning in 2006. The show has earned five Emmys for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. Wolf, "SVU" and Hargitay, through her Joyful Heart Foundation, have used the show's platform to make groundbreaking changes in the way sexual assault is prosecuted and reported.
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" completed its critically acclaimed and successful 10-year run on NBC and USA Network in 2011. Other "Law & Order"-branded series include "Law & Order: True Crime: The Menendez Murders," "Law & Order: Los Angeles," "Law & Order: Trial By Jury," "Crime & Punishment" and "Exiled: A Law & Order Movie."
Wolf Entertainment's feature arm will be producing "77" for Paramount, directed by Jared Leto and based on an original screenplay by James Ellroy. Wolf also produced, with Fortress Films, the psychological thriller "The Super," written by John J. McLaughlin ("Black Swan") and starring Patrick Flueger ("Chicago P.D."), which was distributed by Saban and premiered in 2018. Wolf also wrote the screenplay for the hit Paramount release "School Ties," was writer and executive producer of "Masquerade," and writer and producer of "No Man's Land."
His personal accolades include the Television Academy Hall of Fame (inducted 2013); the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award; the Producers Guild of America's Norman Lear Showmanship Award; the DGA Honors; the Governor's Award by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; the Achievement Award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers, and Directors; the Television Showman of the Year Award from the Publicist's Guild of America; the Monte Carlo Television Festival Gold Nymph Award; the Award of Excellence from the Banff Television Festival; NATPE's Brandon Tartikoff Award; accolades from the Saban Clinic; and the Alliance for Children's Rights. On March 29, 2007, Wolf received a star on Hollywood's world famous Walk of Fame.
Wolf is also an Honorary Consul of Monaco and is actively involved in the principality's annual Monte Carlo Television Festival and is its primary liaison with the entertainment community. He is also the founder and benefactor (with Marcy Carsey) of the Carsey-Wolf Center for Media at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as numerous philanthropic endeavors, including MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation, chairman of the board of Bellosguardo, Trustee of the Paley Center for Media, the Alliance for Children's Rights and the Princess Grace Foundation and, through his Wolf Family Foundation, endowed the new Wolf Theatre at the Television Academy.
Quotes[]
[Law & Order] has offended the sensitivities of a variety of special interest groups, including, but not limited to Jews, Catholics, Protestants, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Aryans, gays and lesbians, Italians, Russians, Greeks, conservatives, liberals, pro-life and pro-choice advocates, and the list goes on ad nauseum.
I have ludicrously high hopes that the 'Chicago' shows will be on for a long time because they have settled in, nobody else is making television like this.
The heart and soul of network programming is series programming, the weekly repetition of characters you like having in your house.
We are giving viewers an inside look into the investigation of criminals, with an emphasis on the psychological component of confessions. Crime buffs will see a side of police work that has never been examined before.
Every show is born under a death sentence. They just don’t tell you the date of execution.
We felt there was a huge minority audience out there that did not have a show to identify with.
External Links[]
- Dick Wolf at the Internet Movie Database