Paulist Productions

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Paulist Productions and its sister company Paulist Pictures are production companies for religious television and film projects, respectively. Paulist Productions was founded in 1960 by the Paulist priest Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser to produce the religious television program Insight. Paulist Pictures was later formed for the purpose of film production, creating the features Romero (1989) and Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996). Under Kieser's leadership, Paulist was regarded as a champion of Roman Catholic heroes and presenting work that focuses on modern moral dilemma. However, after the death of Kieser the company, under the direction of Frank Desiderio, started making cable television documentaries which exploit religious fringe and superstition, such as "Stigmata", "Prophecies of Iraq", "Judas - Traitor or Friend", "Satan - An Unauthorized Biography."

The company is closely associated with the Humanitas Prize, also founded by Father Kieser, and various members of the Humanitas board and staff have worked with Paulist Productions. Industry sources have criticized Paulist Productions for not maintaining an arms length relationship with the Humanitas Prize, and capitalizing on granting awards to filmmakers with whom they work.

Paulist, under Desiderio, has recently run afoul of Writers Guild of America work rules, with claims for non-payment for work and violating writers creative rights. [1][2]

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  1. ^ Eulogy by Frank Desiderio, Humanitas president and sometime head of Paulist Productions
  2. ^ Biography of Kieser mentions that John Sacret Young (a present Humanitas board member) wrote the script for Romero.

[edit] External links