Page 14 - The Caucus Tribute Book 2021

Shaun Cassidy
Singer, Actor, Writer, Producer
Presenting
CAUCUS EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD GAIL KATZ
Gail Katz is a Professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the Mary Pickford Endowed Chair, and the Faculty Chair. She is Head of the Producing Program in the Film and Television Production Division and was its Interim Chair in 2018. She has taught film producing in core production courses, The Pitch Class, and created a TV drama capstone class called Straight to Series.
Gail has produced feature films that have grossed $1.3 billion in box office receipts. Her produced films include Pawn Sacrifice, about Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky’s greatest chess match ever, starring Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stulbarg, directed by Edward Zwick, The Perfect Storm, starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane and John C. Reilly, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, Air Force One, starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman
and Glenn Close, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Cuba Gooding, Jr., directed by Wolfgang Petersen, In the Line of Fire, starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich and Rene Russo, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, Bicentennial Man, starring Robin Williams and Sam Neill, directed by Chris Columbus, Instinct, starring Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding, directed by Jon Turteltaub, Mighty Joe Young starring Charlize Theron and Bill Paxton, directed by Ron Underwood, and Red Corner, starring Richard Gere and Bai Ling, directed by Jon Avnet, and Shattered, starring Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins and Greta Scacchi, directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Her films have received 9 Academy Award nominations.
In television, Gail most recently was Executive Producer of The College Admissions Scandal, which premiered on Lifetime in October 2019, seven months after the public exposure of the widespread bribery and fraud scheme. It starred Penelope Ann Miller and Mia Kirshner. Gail was Executive Producer of the ABC series Cashmere Mafia, starring Lucy
Liu, about 4 successful friends who met in business school, based upon her own experiences. Gail was also Executive Producer of the CBS series about the CIA, The Agency starring Beau Bridges, Jason O’Mara, and Will Patton.
Gail received an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. A Los Angeles native, she lives in Santa Monica with her husband, attorney Bruce Wessel. They have two grown children.