Marc Smerling is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and director. He was nominated for an Oscar for '' Capturing the Friedmans'' in 2003, and co-wrote and produced '' The Jinx'', a six-part

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

documentary on suspected murderer Robert Durst. He directed the FX docuseries '' A Wilderness of Error'' based on the book of the same name.

Education

Smerling attended S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

and has earned a Master of Arts degree in film production from University of Southern California.

Career

Early in his career, Smerling was the associate producer of NBC's ''Gangs, Cops and Drugs'' with Tom Brokaw, and ''The New Hollywood''. He then founded production company Notorious Pictures, producing and directing more than a hundred television commercials and music videos. Smerling partnered up with

Andrew Jarecki Andrew Jarecki (born March 24, 1963) is an American filmmaker, musician, and entrepreneur. He is best known for the Emmy-winning 2015 documentary series '' The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst''. He is also known for the documentary film ...

to form their own production company Hit the Ground Running. He produced 2003's '' Capturing the Friedmans'', which was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary and 2010's documentary film '' Catfish'', which inspired the television series '' Catfish: The TV Show''. In 2010, Smerling produced and wrote his first narrative feature film ''

All Good Things All Good Things may refer to: Music *'' All Good Things'', an American Alternative rock band formed in 2013. Albums * ''All Good Things'' (album), a 2002 album by Sissel *'' All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions'', a box set by Jerry Garc ...

'', starring

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received ...

, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella, about the suspected murderer and real estate scion Robert Durst. The film was the predecessor to the 2015 HBO documentary miniseries '' The Jinx'', which Smerling co-wrote and produced with

and Zachary Stuart-Pontier. He won the 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary Series and was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming. Smerling and Stuart-Pontier co-created the podcast ''

Crimetown ''Crimetown'' is a serial documentary podcast hosted by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier and produced by Gimlet Media which looks at how organized crime has shaped particular American cities. The first season started in 2016 and focused o ...

'', which debuted in 2016 and quickly became the most popular U.S. podcast on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. Each season of ''Crimetown'' examines how organized crime shaped an American city, starting with Providence, Rhode Island, in season one. They also co-created ''The RFK Tapes'' a Crimetown Presents podcast about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. In 2022, he hosted a 15-part podcast series focused on the Mahoning Valley mafia and Congressman

Jim Traficant Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James (given name), James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy (given name), Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * Jim (comics), ...

called "Crooked City: Youngstown OH."

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) People associated with true crime USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni American film producers {{US-film-producer-stub