Jon Stahl is a professional screenwriter and has worked in a variety of capacities in film and television production. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from SUNY Binghamton and his M.F.A. in Film and Television from UCLA.
Professor Stahl was a director for several years at WBNG-TV, a CBS affiliate in New York State. One of the programs that he wrote, directed and co-produced, an hour-long special about baseball, won awards from the National Association of Broadcasters and the New York State Broadcasters' Association.
Jon left WBNG to freelance in film production in NYC, the land of his birth. He worked in several aspects of production, on commercials, feature films and TV shows such as Saturday Night Live. In time, he was employed with growing regularity as a prop man, despite his profusion of thumbs. Finally realizing that this flaw would impede a sustained career in the property arts, he turned to screenwriting.
To support his writing habit, Professor Stahl taught television production at Brooklyn College and at SUNY F.I.T. During this time, he also wrote and directed a short film on a budget of 12-and-a-half cents. Shortly thereafter, he made the requisite trek to L.A. He soon affiliated himself with UCLA Extension, where he taught film production for several years.
After receiving his M.F.A., Jon's screenwriting career began to blossom. Several of his feature-length scripts have been optioned by producers such as David Foster (THE RIVER WILD, McCABE AND MRS. MILLER), Cari-Esta Albert (THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS) and Meg Ryan's Prufrock Pictures. His short script, “Fast Lane,” won the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts Award of Excellence in 2003. His current feature-length project, PARK AVENUE BASEBALL, placed first in the Broadcast Education Association’s 2008 juried faculty scriptwriting competition and was named “Best of Fest” in the 2008 Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts.
Professor Stahl joined the CSUN faculty in 1998. He has been honored by the CSUN Blue Key Honor Society with their Distinguished Faculty Award, the CSUN Ambassadors with their Polished Apple Award, and has been listed in several editions of Who's Who Among America's Teachers. Jon has served as moderator and panelist on several conference panels and has had articles published in the JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO and FEEDBACK. He is a member of the Broadcast Education Association, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the University Film and Video Association, and is the president of the local chapter of the Alvy Singer Appreciation Society.