Biography
Oscar-Nominated and Emmy-winning and nominated documentary filmmaker Tom Neff has over twenty-five years' experience in the film industry. An MFA graduate of USC School of Cinema/Television, his films have garnered over 25 national and international awards, including an Oscar nomination, an Emmy win and an Emmy nomination. Neff founded the Documentary Channel(TM), the nation's first 24/7 channel, dedicated exclusively to showing independent documentaries and which launched on DISH Network in January 2006. The network was sold to Participant Media for over $50mm and aired to over 45 million viewers nationally.
Neff created the DOC brand, the original programming schedule, and the Channel's seven signature ongoing series: "DocTalk," "Treasures of the Academy," "From the Vault," "Doc-U," "Oscar's Picks," "Soundcheck," and the recent African American showcase, "Black Documentary Cinema." Neff Executive Produced all original documentary films and product created by the Channel, including the feature lengths, notably the Emmy-winning "Shake Hands with the Devil";" TVA: Built for the People," "Johnny Berlin 2"; the 4-hour jazz series "Icons Among Us" for DonQ; the shorter "EmPOWered" for the EPA, and "Speed Dreams" for Exxon. Neff worked with the Academy of Motion Pictures in restoration, helping to restore three signature John Huston WWII documentaries which debuted at a special Academy screening event, as well as the seminal 1968 documentary on race relations, "A Time For Burning" and others. As CEO and Chief Creative Officer at DOC, Neff oversaw all financing, reporting, budgeting, personnel, and technical operations of the company, involving over $20mm in investment and revenue over a 12 yr. period. Neff is a recognized expert in the business of the film industry, and his expertise crosses platforms to all media, including licensing, production, distribution, programming, development, broadcast in both traditional (linear television) and non-traditional (internet, streaming, etc.) formats, intellectual property, and the many other business and media aspects of a network.
Neff's films have been featured in special screenings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, the Whitney, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Academy of Motion Pictures, the Director's Guild, the NYC Paley Center, Lincoln Center, The Whitney Museum, PBS's "American Masters," USC, UCLA, and many other venues. He has been a guest speaker or given master classes at festivals and schools such as Sundance, Hot Docs, Lincoln Jazz Center, Real Screen, Hollywood Black Film Festival, International Documentary Association, USC, NYU, Hot Springs Documentary Festival, Westdoc, National Educational Media Network, and many others.
A pioneer in High Definition production, Tom produced and directed the nation's first HDTV art documentary production with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Japanese broadcaster NHK, "Frederic Remington: The Truth of Other Days." Many of Neff's films revolve around artists, from a visually stunning approach to Dada artist and ceramicist "Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada," to a 35mm documentary on the artistry of musical legend Herb Alpert, "Music For Your Eyes." Neff produced, directed and wrote the seminal, $6 million, 6 hour TBS mini-series on country music, "America's Music: The Roots of Country," the most extensive history on country music ever produced. Tom is an expert in late 19th and early 20th century American art and history, with films such as the IMAX production "Our Country," which traced 20th Century American history through country music songs of each decade. His recent feature-length documentary, "Chances: The Women of Magdalene," on struggling and recovered prostitutes, won the Audience Award at the Nashville Film Festival, the Tennessee Spirit Award for the best film of the year by a Tennessean, the Governor's Award, and a Prism Award Nomination. His recent documentary, "Mr. Temple and the Tigerbelles", first aired on CBS Sports Network late March, 2018.
Neff currently is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Entertainment of Middle Tennessee State University, where he has been teaching media management, programming, communication theory, film production and other related subjects for over six years. Neff also created "First Look" Screenings, now in its sixth year, where industry professionals from Middle Tennessee are invited to Nashville's historic Belcourt Theatre to view the top MTSU student work created during the year. He created the nation's first documentary program abroad, named MTSU Signature Documentary Program Abroad, where he took a group of students to Paris, Florence and Athens to create short documentaries.
Neff serves on the Nominating Committees for the Documentary Feature and Documentary Short Oscars, and is a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Television National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Neff has served on many panels, including Sundance, University of Southern California, WestDoc, HotDocs, Nashville Film Festival, Paley Media Center Doc Pitches, RealScreen, and is regular speaker at universities, festivals, and conventions -- including keynote speaker at the Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival.
