Kimmel, Daniel M. 1955-

views updated

KIMMEL, Daniel M. 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born July 31, 1955, in NY; son of Jerome and Rita (Leibowitz) Kimmel; married Donna Shackelton, May 25, 1986; children: Amanda Rose. Education: University of Rochester, B.A., 1977; Boston University, J.D., 1980.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—77 Pond Ave., #406, Brookline, MA 02445-7113. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Called to the Bar of Massachusetts, 1980, U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, 1981, and U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, 1981. Barron & Stadfeld (law firm), Boston, MA, associate, 1980-81; Docktor Pet Centers, Inc., Andover, MA, associate counsel, 1981-83; freelance writer, 1983—. Instructor at Emerson College, 1985-98, Boston Center for Adult Education, 1984, Boston University, 1990, and Suffolk University, 1998—. Also public speaker on media topics, Mastermind Speakers Bureau, Easthampton, MA.

MEMBER:

Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (secretary, 1990-92; member of board of directors, 1992), Boston Society of Film Critics (president, 1997-99).

WRITINGS:

(With Nat Segaloff) Love Stories: Hollywood's Most Romantic Movies (essays), Longmeadow Press (Stamford, CT), 1992.

(With Segaloff and Arnie Reisman) The Waldorf Conference (play), produced by L.A. Theatre Works, 1993.

The Fourth Network: How Fox Broke the Rules and Reinvented Television, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Contributor to periodicals, including Film Comment, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Cinefantastique, and Jewish Advocate. Columnist and film critic for Boston Ledger, 1983-88; film critic for Worcester Telegram and Gazette, 1984—; Boston correspondent for Variety magazine, 1986—; columnist for Homesteader, 1990-2004; contributing writer to Facilities, 1991; author of television column for Quincy Patriot Ledger, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Brockton Enterprise, and Cape Cod Times, 1991-96; author of television column and features for the Boston Herald, 1997-99; and film columnist for Artemis magazine, 2001—.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A history of Dreamworks studio.

SIDELIGHTS:

Daniel M. Kimmel is a former attorney who set his legal career aside to become a freelance writer. Best known as a film critic, his first book, LoveStories: Hollywood's Most Romantic Movies, on which he collaborated with Nat Segaloff, is a collection of essays about romance films. Kimmel joined Segaloff and Arnie Reisman to write the play The Waldorf Conference, which concerns the November 1947 meeting of the heads of Hollywood studios that led to the institution of the blacklisting of suspected communist sympathizers.

More recently, Kimmel completed The Fourth Network: How Fox Broke the Rules and Reinvented Television, the story of how the upstart Fox television startled the big-three networks—CBS, NBC, and ABC—with innovative programs, such as Married … with Children, The Simpsons, America's Most Wanted, and In Living Color, drawing enough audiences to make Fox competitive while also changing television in America forever. The author discussed the smash Fox hits, along with the expected failures, and also "devotes time to the many battles that Fox executives fought with affiliates and the Federal Communications Commission in their effort to build a national broadcast network," related Noah Oppenheim in the Wall Street Journal. "He leaves no doubt that [Fox founder] Mr. [Rupert] Murdoch's deep pockets were indispensable, not to mention a friendly regulatory atmosphere and a forceful lobbying team in Washington. And he chronicles the extraordinary turnover that has characterized Fox's executive suites for much of its existence."

Kimmel told CA: "My published writing consists primarily of reviews and nonfiction. In my film reviews, I draw on the fact that I see over 300 movies a year and have done so for more than twenty years. In my journalism and nonfiction, I attempt to demystify things so that outsiders can easily understand them. For The Fourth Network, I discuss the many aspects of the television business in a way that allows people not in the industry to follow what's going on."