Biografia
Jeff Kleeman graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English. He curated exhibits at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and ran a Story Department at Carolco.
In 1987 Jeff joined Paramount Pictures and was a development and production executive on "Internal Affairs", "The Hunt for Red October", "Shirley Valentine", and "Star Trek 6". He was also responsible for the development of "Deep Cover", later produced and released by New Line.
In 1991 Jeff became Vice President of Production for Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope where he worked on "Bram Stoker's Dracula", initiated Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow", was Associate Producer on "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein", Co-Producer on "Kidnapped", and Executive Producer on "Haunted" and "The Titanic".
Jeff joined MGM/UA in 1993 where he was Executive Vice President of Production. He was responsible for overseeing the revitalization of the James Bond franchise, beginning with "Goldeneye", then "Tomorrow Never Dies", and "The World is Not Enough". He oversaw the development and production of "Rob Roy", "Hackers", and "The Thomas Crown Affair", and he was responsible for the acquisition of "Leaving Las Vegas."
While at MGM/UA Jeff also developed "Cold Mountain", "Heartbreakers" and "The Pink Panther".
In 1999 Jeff left MGM/UA to work with Robert Redford developing strategies for Mr. Redford's future Sundance Entertainment Ventures. He also served on the Board of Directors of The Sundance Channel.
In 2004, Jeff was hired by Sony Pictures Animation to write the story for "Hotel Transylvania".
In 2005, Jeff co-created/show-ran "Misconceptions", a multi-camera sitcom for The WB.
In 2006 he wrote a single camera comedy, "Roll With It" for Fox Television.
In 2007 he wrote a one hour drama pilot, "Sleeping Beauty" for ABC, Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick. He also returned to MGM/UA as Executive Vice-President of Motion Picture Production.
In September 2008, Jeff joined David Dobkin as President of Big Kid Pictures.
In 2010 Jeff wrote a one hour pilot for Warner Bros. Television based on the film, "Time After Time". He also Executive Produced the film, "The Change-Up", which was released on August 5th, 2011, by Universal.
Jeff was Executive Producer on the single camera half-hour series, "Friends With Benefits", which aired on NBC in 2011.
Jeff is an Executive Producer on "The Judge", a Warner Bros. feature scheduled for release in October 2014.
He is a writer on the Guy Ritchie directed "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." feature that Warner Bros. is releasing in 2015.
In August 2012, Jeff became President of Ellen Degeneres's company, A Very Good Production. They are currently in production on three series that will air in 2015 as well as a web series that will stream in Fall 2014.
Jeff is a member of the USC Cinema School faculty where he teaches graduate courses on film development, production and the studio system. He has lectured at Yale, UCLA, Northwestern and at several film conferences as well as taught Film Independent's Screenwriter's Lab.
Jeff has chaired Film Independent's Spirit Awards Nominating Committee. He has served on the board of directors of The Sundance Channel, IFP West, The Los Angeles Film Festival Advisory Committee and served as a judge for the International Thriller Writers Best Screenplay Award.
Jeff currently chairs the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Screening Committee.
Jeff is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Writer's Guild of America, The Producers Guild of America, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and The British Academy of Film & Television.
