Jacoba Atlas is an American

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 ...

in television, also publishing as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

maker. She won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

, an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

and a CableACE Award for ''Survivors of the Holocaust'' (1996), a TV documentary made for TBS. Atlas was a rock critic and film critic in the 1970s, serving as the West Coast correspondent of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' in the UK. She wrote for '' KRLA Beat'', the '' Los Angeles Free Press'' and several other publications. She moved to television, working for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

in the 1980s, rising to senior producer on the ''Today'' show. She co-founded VU Productions with Pat Mitchell in 1990, writing and producing documentaries.

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...

hired her as an executive, after which she was an executive producer for CNN, then vice president at PBS in the 2000s. In 2019, Atlas made ''Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools'', airing on PBS.

Early life and education

Atlas is the daughter of Jewish dramatist Dorothy Cohen and

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

playwright, Hollywood screenwriter Leopold Atlas. Her father was investigated as a Communist by the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

, and was blacklisted. He testified and named 37 names in 1953. Atlas was seven years old when her father died in 1954 of a heart attack. She attended the

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 ...

, during the Free Speech Movement, then shifted to the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television for graduate studies. In 1976, she wrote a dissertation on labor unions in the Hollywood film industry.

Writing career

Atlas first published as a journalist. She wrote an article about

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

s in the '' KRLA Beat'' in August 1967. She praised

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

in early 1968. For '' TeenSet'' magazine in 1968 she interviewed

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

at his "rented house in Benedict Canyon," recognized by Atlas as the house where the Beatles rested between concert legs in 1965. She wrote reviews of

the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

in 1968 and Steppenwolf in 1969 for ''Hullabaloo'', an early name for ''Circus'' rock magazine. She published frequently in ''

'' in the UK – she was their West Coast correspondent – including a piece based on a lengthy, relaxed interview with neighbor

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

at her Laurel Canyon home in early 1970. Atlas described her own Laurel Canyon house as small, with an inoperative fireplace, in an area recently plagued by

smog Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words ''smoke'' and ''fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odour. The word was then inte ...

. Atlas previewed the upcoming '' Nilsson Sings Newman'' album in 1969 for ''Melody Maker'', reviewed the Doors again in 1971 for ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'', and she wrote about the increasing number of women in

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

for ''Billboard'', calling out

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American painter and retired musician whose musical career spanned four decades. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the earl ...

, the Ace of Cups and Fanny, among others. For ''Melody Maker'' in 1972 she talked to

Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a show business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on ra ...

about "

I Am Woman "I Am Woman" is a song written by Australian musicians Helen Reddy and Ray Burton (musician), Ray Burton. Performed by Reddy, the first recording of "I Am Woman" appeared on her debut album ''I Don't Know How to Love Him (album), I Don't Know H ...

", and to John Prine about his '' Diamonds in the Rough'' album. In 1974 she wrote about

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

's UK popularity for ''Melody Maker''. She reviewed concerts by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

the Band The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...

, Leon Russell, and wrote about a "disastrous appearance" by

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances featuring expressive body movements. Most of his best-known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright ...

. She profiled

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

and

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

. Other interviews she conducted were with Delaney & Bonnie, Smokey Robinson, Ry Cooder, producer Terry Melcher of

the Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...

Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song " Midnight at the Oasis" and h ...

, the American Breed,

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

, Rita Coolidge, jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd, singer Brenton Wood, composer

Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs " If I Were a Carpenter", " Reason to Believe", " Misty Roses" and " ...

, protest singer Phil Ochs, English rocker Arthur Brown, Gram Parsons,

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

, the Four Seasons,

Rod McKuen Rodney Marvin McKuen ( ; ; April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and composer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer. Starting his 69-year career with singles of standard (music), standard music, Mathis is one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century and became highly popular as ...

, Jethro Tull, Dennis Wilson,

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

and

the Jackson 5 The Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons, are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was formed in Gary, Indiana in 1964, and originally consisted of brothers Jackie, Ti ...

. She also wrote for the '' Los Angeles Free Press'', starting with an interview with director

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

discussing his 1970 film '' M*A*S*H''. Atlas wrote articles based on interviews with actors

Mae West Mary Jane "Mae" West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known ...

and George C. Scott, and an investigative piece about the backstory of the 1974 film '' Chinatown'': the California water wars. For '' Film Comment'' in 1975, she interviewed

Mel Brooks Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...

. Atlas was the film critic for the ''Free Press'' in the mid-1970s. She interviewed Goldie Hawn for ''

Parents A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are first-degree relatives and have 50% genetic meet. ...

'' magazine in 1978. She contributed reviews to ''Ampersand'' college entertainment magazine. In 1989 through Dutton, Atlas published a fiction novel, ''Palace of Light'', with characters placed within union politics in the early years of Hollywood. In 1994, she wrote ''A Century of Women'', published through TBS Books as a companion to the

television series of the same name.

Television

Atlas first worked in the television industry as a research assistant to Rona Barrett on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' in 1976. She was hired by

, rising to spend five years as senior producer on the ''Today'' show. In October 1990, Atlas co-founded VU Productions with Pat Mitchell, to create non-fiction content for Gary David Goldberg's Ubu Productions. In 1991 for VU Productions, Atlas co-wrote with Mitchell the screenplay for ''Danger: Kids at Work'', a TV movie starring

Amy Irving Amy Irving (born September 10, 1953) is an American actress and singer, who has worked in film, stage, and television. Her accolades include an Obie Award, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. Born in Palo Alto, Cali ...

. Under VU Productions, Atlas and Mitchell produced ''A Century of Women'' in 1994 for

(TBS), a six-hour miniseries documentary broadcast in two episodes, narrated by

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Jane Fonda filmography, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of List of a ...

. ''A Century of Women'' was nominated for an

in 1995. In 1996, TBS tapped Atlas to manage the production of ''Survivors of the Holocaust'', with executive producer

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

joining Mitchell. The documentary won two Emmy Awards, the first for "Outstanding Informational Special", given to the filmmakers including Atlas, Mitchell, Spielberg and director Allan Holzman, and the second for "Outstanding Individual Achievement – Informational Programming" given to Holzman for his editing of the film. It also won a

and a CableACE Award, the latter presented to the filmmakers at the 18th CableACE Awards in 1996. Atlas supervised an independent documentary, ''Dying to Tell the Story'' (1998), about photojournalist Dan Eldon who was killed at 22 in Somalia. After TBS, Atlas worked for CNN, rising to the position of vice president and supervising producer. She helped launch '' CNN NewsStand'', a news magazine, and was executive producer. With CNN, she produced the documentary ''Soldiers of Peace: A Children's Crusade'' (1999), describing children in Colombia working toward peace. Starting in June 2000 at PBS, Atlas was senior vice president overseeing content for six years under president Mitchell, a role she shared with John Wilson: Atlas was based on the West Coast while Wilson was in Florida. In June 2006, Atlas left PBS when they closed operations in Los Angeles. Atlas collaborated with

Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...

on a series of documentaries for PBS. Atlas was involved with seven broadcasts including: "A Call to Conscience" (2010), "Too Important to Fail" (2011), "Education Under Arrest" (2013), and "Getting Ahead" (2016). One of the series was about Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Atlas wrote and directed ''Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools'', based on the 2016 book of the same name written by Monique W. Morris. The documentary was broadcast in 2019 by PBS, telling about African American girls disproportionately sent to the

juvenile justice system Juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal systems, chi ...

Awards and recognition

Atlas won a

, a CableACE Award and an

for the TBS movie ''Survivors of the Holocaust'' (1996). She was nominated for two more Emmys: in 1995 for ''A Century of Women'', and in 1999 for ''Dying to Tell the Story''.

Filmography

* 2019: ''Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools'' * 2016: '' Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War'' * 2016: ''

Reports: Getting Ahead'' * 2013: ''Tavis Smiley Reports: Education Under Arrest'' * 2013: ''Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago'' * 2012: ''Tavis Smiley Reports: Dudamel: Conducting a Life'' * 2011: ''Extraordinary Moms'' * 2011: '' Miss Representation'' * 2011: ''Tavis Smiley Reports: Too Important to Fail'' * 2010: ''Tavis Smiley Reports: A Call to Conscience'' * 2009–2015: ''Craft in America'' * 1999: ''Soldiers of Peace: A Children's Crusade'' * 1998: ''Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary: No Guts, No Glory'' * 1998: ''Assassinated: The Last Days of King & Kennedy'' * 1998: ''Dying to Tell the Story'' * 1997: ''The Coming Plague'' * 1996: ''The Good, the Bad & the Beautiful'' * 1996: ''Survivors of the Holocaust'' * 1995: ''Anatomy of Love'' * 1994: ''A Century of Women'' * 1992: ''The Home Show'' * 1991: ''Danger: Kids at Work''

References

External links

*
Jacoba Atlas
at BFI.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Atlas, Jacoba Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers American business executives American documentary film directors American documentary film producers American people of German-Jewish descent American television news producers CableACE Award winners Film producers from California Journalists from California Television producers from California American women documentary filmmakers American women television producers Peabody Award winners Primetime Emmy Award winners UCLA Film School alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Rock critics American music critics American film critics American women film critics 21st-century American women writers American women music critics 21st-century American businesswomen