Adam F. Goldberg

Early life and work

Goldberg was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and lived in nearby Jenkintown. His parents are Beverly Goldberg (née Solomon) (born October 8, 1943) and Murray Goldberg (September 25, 1940 – February 1, 2008); he is the youngest of three sons, with brothers Eric (born August 18, 1967) and Barry (born October 15, 1969). He produced his first play, Dr. Pickup, in 1992 at the age of 15, and won the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival. He attended Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts camp.

His plays were performed in venues such as the Sundance Playwrights Lab, the Illusion Theater, The Greenwich Street Theater, The Saint Marks Theatre, The Tada! Theater, The Walnut Street Theater and the Joseph Papp Theater.

He was a finalist for the American Theater Critics Association's 1997 Osborn Award for his full-length play, One on One.

His dramedy The Purple Heart was produced by the Institute for Arts and Education at the Annenberg Theater and also won first place in The Very Special Arts Playwriting Award and was produced at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Career

Screenwriting

Goldberg's first comedy-writing job began in 2003 for the sitcom Still Standing, where he worked for four years and finished as a co-producer. After his first year on Still Standing, he teamed up with Picture Machine, Trigger Street Productions, and college friend Kyle Newman to develop the screenplay for Fanboys. After a year, they sold it to The Weinstein Company. The screenplay ended up seventh on the 2005 Black List for most popular unproduced scripts of the year.

After the success of Fanboys, Goldberg was hired to write the screenplays for The Jetsons; a 2007 remake of Revenge of the Nerds (1984) starring Adam Brody, which was cancelled after three weeks of filming; Aliens in the Attic; and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. He also spent a year writing on DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon, before moving over to write Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space as well as the 2011 How to Train Your Dragon Christmas special, Gift of the Night Fury. He is currently adapting the graphic novel Seal Team 7 for director Shawn Levy, and bringing the book Simon Bloom: Gravity Keeper to the screen for Walden Media. Goldberg has also produced several movies, including The Comebacks, Daddy Day Camp, Bobism, Jeff the Immortal, and a remake of Night of the Living Dorks. Goldberg also produced the documentary Mike Mignola: Drawing Monsters, which explores the life and work of comic creator Mike Mignola.

Television

On the television side, Goldberg teamed up with Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison to write four pilots for various networks. In 2010, Happy Madison introduced him to King of Kong director Seth Gordon and together they created the 2011 Fox comedy series Breaking In. The show was pitched as "The Office meets The A-Team" and, after a year of development, was picked up to series. Before Breaking In, Goldberg also wrote on the shows Aliens in America, Secret Girlfriend, Voltron Force, WordGirl and Kevin Williamson's Glory Days.

In 2011, Goldberg signed a three-year overall deal with Sony Pictures TV. During this time, Goldberg was a producer on NBC's Community while developing new projects. In 2012, Goldberg got a pilot commitment to shoot an autobiographical show about his family titled How the F--- Am I Normal?, and also reunited with Fox on a pilot starring AJ Michalka and Sean Giambrone. The autobiographical show was picked up by ABC with a title change to The Goldbergs and ran through ten seasons before ending in 2023. He also co-created Imaginary Mary and The Goldbergs spinoff series Schooled for the network.

Goldberg also co-developed and produced The Muppets Mayhem, a Muppets spinoff series starring The Electric Mayhem, which streamed on Disney Plus in 2023.

Other projects

On July 22, 2020, Goldberg, along with Uncle Louie, launched challenge coins with the Garbage Pail Kids. They were licensed by Topps and sold out in minutes. On January 26, 2024, Goldberg was announced to be co-writing the Marvel Comics series Aliens: What If...? with Brian Volk-Weiss, Hans Rodionoff, and Leon and Paul Reiser, to be illustrated by Guiu Vilanova.

References

References

1. (January 5, 2022). "Everything The Goldbergs Changes From The Real-Life Events".
2. (October 10, 2017). "Adam F. Goldberg".
3. [http://www.timesofisrael.com/tvlands-favorite-jewish-family-gears-up-for-a-third-season/ Times of Israel: "TV Land’s favorite Jewish family gears up for third season" BY LISA KLUG] September 18, 2015
4. (February 2, 2008). "Dr. Murray Goldberg Obituary".
5. [https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-goldbergs/ THE GOLDBERGS (2013-)] February 1, 2018
6. (August 31, 2009). "Wordplay August 2009".
7. Kouguell, Susan. (2020-07-02). "INTERVIEW: “Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist” Writer, Creator and Executive Producer Austin Winsberg".
8. (1995). "National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Playwrights | Archives | Sundance Institute".
9. Greenberg, Wendy. (June 17, 2010). "A Jenkintown Student Is Serious About His Plays Adam Goldberg's Dramas Win Awards And Are Being Performed Around The Country. He Can Act, Too".
10. (May 2, 1997). "Keith Glover Wins Critics' Osborn Award, May 2".
11. (April 6, 2011). "Ellen Gray: Jenkintown native's show premieres on Fox tonight".
12. Keating, Douglas J.. (April 12, 1996). "Presenting 3 Winners By Local High School Students".
13. (1994). "Playwright Discovery Program: Resource Guide for Teachers". VSA arts.
14. Andreeva, Nellie. (March 1, 2011). "'Breaking In' Co-Creator Adam Goldberg Signs Overall Deal With Sony Pictures TV".
15. Franklin, Garth. "The Jetsons Finally Takes Off".
16. (March 27, 2010). "How To Train Your Dragon – Film Reel Reviews".
17. Fleming, Mike. (January 14, 2011). "Walden Media Acquires Young Adult Series 'Simon Bloom: Gravity Keeper'".
18. Topel, Fred. (August 4, 2015). "Adam-F.-Goldberg | /Film".
19. Woo, Kelly. (September 19, 2007). "The Write Stuff: Interview with Screenwriter Adam F. Goldberg".
20. (September 16, 2024). "Directors Of Mike Mignola Doc 'Drawing Monsters' Celebrate Film's Long-Awaited Streaming Debut".
21. (April 7, 2011). "'Breaking In' is 'Office meets A-Team'". [[Digital Spy]].
22. Andreeva, Nellie. (September 7, 2012). "Adam F. Goldberg – 'How The F- Am I Normal Moves To ABC".
23. Association. (July 20, 2020). "Garbage Pail Kids".
24. Marvel. (January 26, 2024). "Marvel Comics Brings ''What If...?'' Storytelling to the {{'}}''Alien''{{'}} Universe".