Biography
Paul Chitlik didn’t write and direct his first play until he was eleven, considered somewhat late by many studio and network executives barely out of their teens. But then, he was born in Cleveland.
When he moved to California at the age of thirteen, he built his own skateboard out of a piece of 2X4, an old skate, and a scrap of carpet. Years later, he became ASB president so he could kiss the homecoming queen. It worked… once. The joys of politics.
As a college student, he went to Spain to study at the University of Madrid and trace his Hispanic roots. There, he also published his first work in any language – a Spanish poem.
After receiving his degree in comparative literature and tear gas at UC, Berkeley, Chitlik traveled and wrote all over Europe, finally landing in London where he worked as a Spanish translator and journalist for several years. When he returned to Los Angeles, he began teaching English as a second language at Long Beach Community College. Soon, he was an administrator devising programs for non-literate students, a skill that has enabled him to read unsolicited manuscripts without flinching.
During this time, he was also on the board of directors of La Escuela Laboral, a bilingual school for adults in East Los Angeles, and the Human Powered Transit Association, a bicycle advocacy group. He was responsible for the creation of the HPTA’s bicycle safety program in the L.A. Unified School District. He also served as Executive Director of AVAZ International Dance Theatre, which performed music and dance from around the world.
Chitlik was on the School Facilities Committee of the Burbank Unified School district, a committee he chaired for ten years. He also served on the board of, and was president of, Project Chicken Soup, an organization that cooked and delivered kosher meals to people with HIV/AIDS.
After seven years of community college teaching, he did a career about-face and began to write for television, first as the executive story editor for a syndicated series, “Guilty or Innocent,” and later as a staff writer with writing partner Jeremy Bertrand Finch for the Showtime series, “Brothers.” Chitlik and Finch eventually wrote both dramas and sitcoms for every major network and the syndication market.
Chitlik joined the Writers Guild of America, west, in 1986, and has been an active member since, serving on the Academic Liaison Committee and the Publications Board. In 1999 he assisted the Guild’s public affairs office in their lobbying efforts in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Burbank. He currently is a member of the Disabled Writers Committee for which he helped produce the first Hollywood Disabilities Forum featuring Peter Farrelly and Ricky Gervais at UCLA.
When “The New Twilight Zone” was revived for syndication, Chitlik and Finch were brought on board by Executive Producer Mark Shelmerdine to set the direction and tone of the program as story editors (there were no Americans with a producer title due to Canadian content). The show went on to prove itself a ratings success and took its place along side the original as innovative and stimulating programming. Chitlik and Finch won a Writers Guild of America award nomination for one of the “New Twilight Zone” episodes they wrote during this time.
Chitlik and Finch developed “Poltergeist” for television for a partnership of MGM, Paragon Pictures, and ARD Television of Germany; sold a romantic comedy to Bay Productions of Vancouver; created a sit-com for Republic Pictures; wrote a pilot for “Lifetime;” and developed “Alcohol Lake,” a story of hope and cultural re-awakening of Native Americans, for KCET and American Playhouse.
After Finch became regional coordinator for his tribe, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Chitlik was hired as the coordinating producer for “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol,” one of the most successful first run daily strip programs on television. In addition to overseeing the story development, scripting, directing, and editing of over 260 reenactment segments, he field-produced and directed more than a dozen himself. From Real Stories, Chitlik went to “U.S. Customs Classified,” a syndicated series starring Stephen J. Cannell. There he supervised 22 hours of programming.
For Rysher Entertainment, Chitlik wrote “Youngsters,” designed as a starring vehicle for the Olsen twins. He has also written features for a number of independent companies, winning a Genesis Award for one.
Chitlik wrote and produced “Alien Abduction – The McPherson Tape”, a movie for television for UPN and dick clark productions, for whom he has written episodes of “Beyond Belief.” He contributed episodes to “Los Beltrán,” a Spanish language sitcom for Telemundo, which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. He has also written, produced, and directed a documentary for The Travel Channel.
In 1996, Chitlik founded The Dime Novel Co. and published a complete mystery novel as a magazine supported solely by advertising. The publication was featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Nation’s Business, The Los Angeles Times, and local media. In the summer of 1997, he published the second edition, featuring “Deviant Numbers,” a science fiction novela about cloning.
Chitlik taught in UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television’s MFA program, its Professional Screenwriting Program, and UCLA Extension. At Loyola Marymount University he taught television film and television writing in its BA and MFA programs and founded their study abroad program in Budapest, Hungary. He has held workshops at ESCAC, the University of Barcelona’s film school; at EICTV, the Cuban film school; and Panamerican University in Mexico City. He has consulted for CORFO, the Chilean film development authority, and been the writer in residence at the Ibermedia Conference in Santiago, Chile. He has held screenwriting workshops in Venezuela, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, and Mexico. He has consulted for ScreenWest, the film board of Western Australia, and Screen Australia as well as numerous production companies in the U.S.
He is married to Beth McCauley, former executive producer of E! News. They now live in Chapel Hill near his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson.