Dale Pollock

Dale Pollock was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated at the top of his class from Brandeis University, and eventually earned his masters in communications from San Jose State University. In 1977, he began his career writing for the Daily Variety. He became the head film critic for the paper, until he was hired by the Los Angeles Times to be their chief entertainment correspondent, where he formed the Calendar section. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in the early 1980's. He also wrote "Skywalking, " the biography of filmmaker George Lucas. In 1985, Pollock joined David Geffen's company as a development executive. He joined A&M films a year later, and was named president in 1990. He lead the company to financial and critical success, producing such films as "The Beast" and "A Home of Our Own." He was the president of Peak Productions for ten years and lectured often at both the American Film Institute and the University of Southern California film school. He was Dean of the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina from 199-2006, and Professor of Cinema Studies at UNCSA from 2006 to the present. Pollock was awarded an Endowed Professorship in Film in his name at UNCSA and is a 2016 recipient of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence.