What's New

Jon's new book, Screening Reality: How Documentary Filmmakers Reimagined America, explores the role of nonfiction filmmakers in American history, from the first photographs that moved to today's "Post-Truth" era.

"A towering achievement, and a volume I know I'll be consulting on a regular basis."  -- Leonard Maltin

"Authoritative, accessible, and elegantly written, Screening Reality is the history of American documentary film we have been waiting for." --Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times film critic

“Enthralling . . . A valuable resource for cinephiles, this sweeping history will ignite a new enthusiasm for the form among readers less well-versed in the genre.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A many-faceted, dynamic, and thought-provoking history of nonfiction films in America . . . This monumental exploration reminds us that 'evidential truth' is essential to liberty and justice . . . Let the real be real; let truth ring true.” ―Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)

“An illuminating, encyclopedic history of nonfiction film . . . A capacious celebration of film's potential to show us the world.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“Well-documented . . . Wilkman consistently cycles back to one important message: no matter how fuzzy the lines between fiction and fact, truth should be forefront in the minds of documentarians. Our supposedly posttruth era and the pitfalls and ease with which we augment reality are threads through the narrative . . . Wilkman makes a compelling case.” ―Library Journal

“Fantastically well researched and written, Screening Reality raises the bar for anyone who wants to write about the history of documentaries and documentarians, with invaluable insights into today's truth-challenged times.” ―Peter Davis, Academy Award-winning director of HEARTS AND MINDS; author of GIRL OF MY DREAMS
    Jon's last book: Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles,was published by Bloomsbury Press in January 2016. Based on more than twenty years of research, Floodpath was an  Amazon Nonfiction Book of the Year and honored with the Historical Society of Southern California Martin Ridge Award for California history.  It is a companion to the Wilkman Productions documentary, "The St. Francis Dam Disaster," now in development. The 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam, 50 miles north of Los Angeles, is considered the deadliest American civil engineering failure of the 20th century.  More than 400 people lost their lives.  The tragedy brought an end to the legendary career of William Mulholland, the self-taught engineer who built the Owens River Aqueduct that made modern Los Angeles possible. Perhaps best known as part of the backstory of the classic film, Chinatown, the true story of the St. Francis Dam is just as intriguing, and even more important to America today. In the present era of climate change, drought and a failing American infrastructure, the lessons of the St. Francis Dam failure are more relevant than ever. An interview about the disaster with Jon and his late wife Nancy  aired on NPR's  "All Things Considered."

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    Wilkman Productions is developing a new documentary, The War Behind the Screen: Hollywood vs. Hitler. This 90 minute film will reveal perhaps the greatest untold Hollywood story of the 1930s. It explores how America and the movie industry responded to the rise of Hitler -- with movies and direct action.  At the heart of this little known history is an amazing anti-Nazi spy operation, set up in the very heart of Hollywood, one of the best kept secrets of the pre-World War II era.  

     Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels believed movies were weapons.  He was convinced that if he could neutralize the power of the American motion picture industry, he could stop or postpone involvement of a deeply anti-war United States in activities against Nazi military actions in Europe.  In response, the Hollywood moguls, most of whom were Jewish, were surrounded by challenges on all sides,  but found ways to fight back.  

     As Hitler accelerated his attacks on Jews in Germany, forcing Jewish-owned businesses to close, American overseas profits for the American movie industry, an important source of income, were hit hard.  At first, the Hollywood moguls attempted to negotiate deals to keep their films in German-controlled theaters, but were ultimately thwarted.  President Roosevelt wanted American films to stay as long as possible, but the studio heads were hesitant to take a more activist stance against the rise of Hitler because of industry sanctions against films that might be perceived as propaganda rather than entertainment during a time when as much as 80 percent of Americans opposed entering the conflict in Europe.  Added to this, was the threat of an increase in home-grown anti-Semitism, if it appeared that Jewish moguls were urging the country into war.  The very few independently produced  anti-Nazi films were suppressed, while only a handful of major studio productions, mostly from Warner Bros., faced the dangers indirectly. However, in the midst of this public timidity, a secret spy network was born, staffed by everyday citizens. These espionage efforts exposed Nazism from within, and alerted Americans before Hollywood faced the threat openly in the landmark 1939  movie, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, and the country was thrown into the conflict by the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
 

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