Gavin Polone
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Gavin Polone is an American film and television producer. He began producing films in the late 1990s and television in the 2000s. He has been nominated for seven
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
s, of which six were for "Outstanding Comedy Series" for
Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...
's ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...
''. His production company is Pariah.


Background

Polone graduated from
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
in three years. He earned a realtor's license and applied to work for the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
but was not accepted. In 1985, he began work as an assistant at
International Creative Management ICM Partners was a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. The company represented clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded e ...
. He eventually became a
literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwr ...
at ICM. In 1989, ICM suspected that Polone planned to defect and fired him, though Polone says ICM was wrong about its suspicions. He joined Bauer-Benedek Agency, and the agency eventually merged with Leading Artists Agency to form
United Talent Agency United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. , the company has more than 1,400 global employees. ...
. Polone eventually became a partner at UTA. He was disappointed in how the agency was run and threatened to leave. In April 1996, UTA fired Polone. Polone hired Peter Ostroff to sue UTA in a
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...
lawsuit, and before the lawsuit was filed, UTA gave Polone a severance package and made a public admission that "'there were insufficient grounds' to fire him." UTA sued Polone a year later for reneging on the severance contract, and another settlement took place. After departing from UTA, Polone launched his own management and production company and managed clients in both film and television. He eventually decided to become a film and television producer, and he dropped all of his clients except for
Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...
. In 2007 and beyond, Polone became a
pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...
who appeared in media to comment on the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Tiger Woods's infidelity scandal and fallout, and
Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...
's association with
Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...
. He also writes an online column for ''
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...
''. In the late 1990s, he was partner with Judy Hofflund to start Hofflund/Polone, with both credited as
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
s on ''
Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...
'' through its original run. Hofflund retired in 2013. In May 2001, he started Pariah, with an affiliated production company at
Columbia TriStar Television Columbia TriStar Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CTT) was an American television production and distribution company, which was active from 1994 until its reincorporation as Sony Pictures Television in 2002. It was the third iteration of what ...
. On February 19, 2002, Pariah decided to expand into film production with
Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...
,
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
and Senator International for a production-and-distribution deal. Shortly afterwards, on May 27, 2002, he moved his Pariah Television production division to
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
, creating projects that were designed solely for the network. On July 26, 2004, NBC decided to cut their ties with Pariah Television, and on April 14, 2005, the production company was moved back to
Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...
for film and television projects. Polone, formerly a member of
Writers Guild of America West The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 me ...
, left and maintained financial core status in 2015.


Filmography


Film


As producer


As an actor


Thanks


Television


As executive producer


As director


As an actor


Thanks


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Polone, Gavin American film producers American television directors American television producers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) University of California, Berkeley alumni Year of birth missing (living people)