Biography
After graduating from Oberlin College, Jon began his career in New York with the CBS News documentary unit. During his seven years with CBS, Jon worked with Walter Cronkite on the award winning "Twentieth Century" and "21st Century" series, as well as "Of Black America," hosted by Bill Cosby. Other television projects include writing, directing and producing the WCBS "Eye on New York" series, and the Emmy Award- winning documentary "Countdown to a Contract." During this time, he also wrote the book, Black Americans: From Colonial Days to the Present.
In 1971 Jon formed Wilkman Productions, Inc., producing a wide range of television, educational and corporate programs. For PBS he worked as a program producer on the Emmy Award-winning "Great American Dream Machine" series and the Sigma Delta Chi Award-winning 90-minute PBS documentary "Attica." He was a producer on the "What About Tomorrow," series for ABC, "Voices of America," a look at American regional life for McGraw Hill, "Transistor," documenting the history of the transistor for AT&T" and "American Images" for the United States Information Agency, winner of a CINE Golden Eagle Award.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1978, Jon continued producing films and videos for television and commercial clients. He was producer, director writer on seven HBO specials, including "Scandals," "Spies" and "Real Detectives," among others. He received Emmys for two public television series, "Turning Points" and "The Los Angeles History Project," produced in association with KCET.
Other documentary work includes such television specials as NBC's "L.A. Law" hosted by Jane Pauley. He's also contributed documentary elements to historically based dramatic films, "Fatherland," "American Stories," "Witch Hunt," and "Winchell," all produced by HBO Pictures. Jon has a special interest in history. With his wife and partner, Nancy, he produced, directed and wrote a three hour biography of Thomas Edison ("The Edison Effect") for the History Channel and A&E. Also four one hour biographies (Charles Lindbergh, Frank Sinatra, Steve Jobs and Andrew Grove) for MSNBC.
Recent projects include "With Heart and Hand: The Restoration of the Gamble House," "At Issue: Immigration," a four-part series, "The Port of Los Angeles: A History," and a seven-part series for Turner Classic Movies entitled "Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood." Jon is also the co-author, with his wife Nancy, of the illustrated history "Picturing Los Angeles," and "Los Angeles: A Pictorial Celebration."
Jon is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America, West. In addition to an active career as a producer, director and writer, he has lectured on the history and production of documentaries at Fordham University and taught nonfiction writing in the Department of Cinema/Television at the University of Southern California. He was a three-term president of the International Documentary Association, during which he founded the First International Documentary Congress in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is vice president of the Historical Society of Southern California (HSSC).
