Marc N. Weiss
Marc N. Weiss is an American documentary producer who is best known as the creator and first executive producer of P.O.V., the longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction film on American television.[1][2] He founded the nonprofit internet think tank Web Lab in 1997 and later became active in climate and social justice organizing in New York and nationally.[3]
Early life and education
[edit]Weiss grew up in Queens, New York.[4] He attended Stuyvesant High School and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Career
[edit]Early career
[edit]Weiss began his career in the early 1970s as a documentary filmmaker, directing the short The Revolutionary Was a Cop: Tommy the Traveler in 1971.[5]
In 1974, Weiss became a founding board member and vice president of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF).[6][7] In 1980, he co-founded Media Network, a nonprofit clearinghouse for information about social-issue films.[8][9]
Film
[edit]Weiss conceived P.O.V. in the 1980s in response to what he saw as limited PBS support for independently produced documentaries during the Reagan era.[10] After PBS initially rejected the proposal, he resubmitted it to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with a list of documentaries that had never been shown on PBS.[9]
The series debuted on July 5, 1988, and became the longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction films on American television.[4] Weiss served as executive producer until 1995. During his tenure, the series received Peabody, duPont-Columbia, and Emmy Awards, while several films it presented received Academy Award recognition.[11] P.O.V. also aired films including Marlon Riggs's Tongues Untied (1991) and Tom Joslin and Peter Friedman's Silverlake Life: The View from Here (1993).[9][1]
In 2011, Weiss co-produced two HBO documentaries: When Strangers Click: Five Stories from the Internet, directed by Robert Kenner, and Gun Fight, directed by Barbara Kopple.[12][13] He also served as executive producer on documentaries including Berkeley in the Sixties (1990), Days of Waiting (1991), Thank You and Good Night (1991), Orgasm, Inc. (2011),[14] and A Fierce Green Fire (2012).[15]
Internet work
[edit]In 1993, Weiss began exploring ways to use the web to extend public engagement with issues raised by P.O.V. documentaries. He stepped down as executive producer in 1995 to launch P.O.V. Interactive.[11][10]
The 1996 project Re:Vietnam: Stories Since the War was an early crowdsourced documentary website.[10] In 1997, Weiss founded Web Lab, a New York-based nonprofit that developed experimental projects exploring the internet's potential for public dialogue and civic engagement.[16][17]
Web Lab projects included American Love Stories, Need.com, and "Small Group Dialogues," a structured format for high-quality, time-limited online conversations among strangers.[18]
Activism
[edit]In 2012, Weiss shifted much of his focus from media work to climate and environmental advocacy. He joined the board of the Sierra Club Foundation and served as a volunteer co-lead of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, including efforts opposing the Keystone XL pipeline.[19]
In New York, Weiss co-founded NY Renews, a coalition of community, labor, and environmental groups that was the moving force behind the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, enacted in 2019.[20] He has been a member of the coalition's steering committee since its founding in 2015.
He also serves on the board of The Natural History Museum, a traveling organization focused on climate and environmental justice.[12]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Show's Founder Steps Out of the 'P.O.V.' Hot Seat : Television: As the controversial series enters its fifth season on PBS, Marc Weiss is taking a year's leave of absence". Los Angeles Times. July 6, 1992.
- ↑ Glick, Joshua (March 1, 2026). "Bodies on the Line: Documentary and Progressive Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism". Afterimage. 53 (1): 26–62. doi:10.1525/aft.2026.53.1.26 – via Silverchair.
- ↑ "Behind the Lens: Marc Weiss". WQLN.
- 1 2 https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1997.07.25.001/78/
- ↑ "The Murder of Fred Hampton + The Revolutionary Was a Cop".
- ↑ https://independent-magazine.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2014/09/independent08foun.pdf
- ↑ https://cmsimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/viewfromthetoppov.pdf
- ↑ "New Grants to Finance Sites That Embrace Points of View". archive.nytimes.com.
- 1 2 3 "Speaking Out and Talking Back: PBS Series 'P.O.V.' Celebrates 15 Years of Impassioned Documentaries | International Documentary Association". www.documentary.org. July 1, 2002.
- 1 2 3 Silberman, Steve (May 7, 1998). "Web Lab Puts Cash Behind Interactivity" – via www.wired.com.
- 1 2 "POV Turns 10 Years Old | International Documentary Association". www.documentary.org. July 1, 1997.
- 1 2 "Marc Weiss".
- ↑ savage, sophia (January 28, 2011). "EXCLUSIVE: Kenner, Weiss Talk HBO Doc "When Strangers Click"".
- ↑ Scheck, Frank (February 10, 2011). "Orgasm Inc. — Film Review".
- ↑ Lowe, Justin (February 2, 2012). "A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet: Sundance Film Review".
- ↑ Ante, Spencer (July 27, 1998). "A lab for online experiments". Salon.com.
- ↑ "Popular Narrative". web.mit.edu.
- ↑ Harmon, Amy (September 26, 2002). "Vox Populi, Online" – via NYTimes.com.
- ↑ "N. Weiss, Marc - Filmmaker".
- ↑ McKinley, Jesse; Plumer, Brad (June 18, 2019). "New York to Approve One of the World's Most Ambitious Climate Plans" – via NYTimes.com.