Paul Stojanovich
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Paul Stojanovich (February 13, 1956 in Sacramento, California – March 15, 2003 near Manzanita, Oregon) was an American television producer. John Langley and Malcolm Barbour are the credited creators of Cops, but Paul Stojanovich is the actual creator of the show. Before he would go on to create American Detective and World's Wildest Police Videos he did an emmy-winning documentary titled Narco at the age of 22, which was the first time cops gave intimate access to cover police officers in the field. His success landed him a producing job on 20/20 and in the early 80's he wrote the treatment for Cops and began lobbying with numerous law enforcement agencies across the country to make the show possible. After the first 3 seasons, Paul left Cops to do American Detective at ABC as a result of John Langley and Malcolm Barbour's mistreatment and unfair compensation. They sued him for breach of contract, but their lawsuit was thrown out because Paul had the treatment for the show and he was cleared to do American Detective.
As a teenager Paul became an avid photographer, saving his money to buy an expensive Hasselblad camera and getting his own dark room in his father's barn in Campbell, California. His father Chester Stojanovich was an entimologist with a Doctorate from Stanford and his mother Martha Stojanovich was one of the first women to work at the Center of Disease Control. She was diagnosed with psychizophrenia shortly after he was born causing him to turn to photography and making home movies to seek refuge. He won the respect of Ansel Adams at the age of 13 and was priveleged to collaborate with him. At 16 he dropped out of high school and started taking film making classes from Larry Booth in Half Moon Bay, California. His experience as a photographer made the transition to motion pictures relatively easy. His interest in policing began when he was attending high school in San Jose, often listening to his police scanner, which led to him becoming a camerman for KRON, and at 19 he went through the FBI Academy.
The Beaverton, Oregon Police Department made Stojanovich a Honorary Special Reserve Officer.
Stojanovich died on March 15, 2003 after accidentally falling off a cliff while posing for a photograph. He was 47 and had been posing for a picture his girlfriend, Kim Crowel, was taking when he fell. His body was found 29 days after his death making the autopsy benign, there is still much speculation about what happened the day of his death.
Law enforcement officials credit Stojanovich with showing the human face of police and their devotion to duty in the riveting, you-are-there format popularized on "Cops."
After developing and serving as a producer of "Cops" and producing the ABC series "American Detective," Stojanovich executive produced a wave of reality shows modeled on the "Cops" genre, including "World's Wildest Police Videos," "World's Scariest Police Chases" and "Ultimate Police Challenge."
Before that, he was a field producer for the ABC news magazine "20/20," produced the documentary "Narco" and was creative consultant on Oliver Stone's film "Natural Born Killers."
The Californian moved to Oregon about 10 years ago.
In addition to his fiancee, he is survived by his sons Paul and Chet, and his sister Diane.
