Carol Baum develops and produces motion picture and television projects.
Baum most recently produced her fifth movie for Hallmark, Family History Mysteries: Buried Past, starring Janel Parrish and Niall Matter, with her partner Jane Goldenring. She also recently produced Jolly Good Christmas starring Reshma Shetty and Will Kemp for Hallmark.
Carol is currently working on the second film in the Family History Mysteries franchise. She is also developing a TV series about the life of Greta Garbo with her partner Howard Rosenman (Call Me by Your Name).
In 2014, Baum produced two movies: Boychoir and Zapped. Boychoir, starring Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Eddie Izzard, Debra Winger, and Josh Lucas, was a Gala Presentation at the Toronto Film Festival and was released internationally in 2015. The film was directed by Francois Girard (The Red Violin). Her Disney Channel movie Zapped, starring Emmy-winning actor Zendaya (Euphoria), premiered on Disney Channel in 2014 to glowing numbers.
Baum was an executive producer on the 2011 documentary Last Call at the Oasis for Participant, which looks at the vital role of water, the communities struggling with the effects of water shortages, and the individuals championing revolutionary solutions, directed by Jessica Yu (Fosse/Verdon).
In 2008, she produced Five Dollars A Day, starring Christopher Walken, Alessandro Nivola, Sharon Stone, and Amanda Peet, and directed by Nigel Cole (Calendar Girls). In 2007, she produced You Kill Me, starring Ben Kingsley, Téa Leoni, and Luke Wilson, directed by John Dahl, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Avengers movies and The Gray Man), and released by IFC.
In 2005, Carol produced Sexual Life directed by Ken Kwapis (The Office), starring Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Banks and Dulé Hill, which premiered on Showtime. In 2003, she produced Carolina, which was directed by Marleen Gorris (Antonia’s Line) and written by Katherine Fugate (Valentine’s Day). The movie stars Julia Stiles, Alessandro Nivola and Shirley MacLaine.
Carol’s 2002 movie, The Good Girl, distributed by Fox Searchlight, earned outstanding reviews and four Independent Spirit Award nominations. Directed by Miguel Arteta (Beatriz at Dinner) from a screenplay by Mike White (The White Lotus), the film stars Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, and Zooey Deschanel. In November 2001, Paramount Classics released My First Mister, starring Leelee Sobieski, Albert Brooks, and John Goodman, written by Jill Franklyn (Seinfeld’s Yada-Yada episode), and directed by Christine Lahti, who won an Oscar for her short film, Lieberman In Love. The movie opened the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.
Baum executive produced Snow Falling On Cedars from the best-selling book by David Gutterson. Scott Hicks (Shine) directed Ethan Hawke in Ron Bass’s adaptation. Kathleen Kennedy produced for Universal, who released the film Christmas 1999. Robert Richardson, the film’s cinematographer, was nominated for an Academy Award for his work.
Carol first entered the world of television with Tourist Trap, written by Andy Breckman (The Good Cop), directed by Richard Benjamin, and starring Daniel Stern. It aired on the Wonderful World of Disney on ABC in 1999. This was Baum’s fourth outing with Andy Breckman, the creator of Monk.
Baum was the Co-President of Sandollar Productions for ten years, where she produced such hits as Father of the Bride and its sequel, in addition to the Academy Award-winning HBO documentary Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt, and the quadruple Ace Award-winning HBO Showcase presentation Tidy Endings, written by and starring Harvey Fierstein.
Her features with Sandollar include: IQ with Meg Ryan, Walter Matthau, and Tim Robbins, directed by Fred Schepisi; Jacknife starring Robert DeNiro; True Identity, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Gross Anatomy, Shining Through starring Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith; and Straight Talk with Dolly Parton. Kicking And Screaming, Noah Baumbach’s first film, which she executive produced, won rave reviews following its opening at the New York Film Festival in 1995.
Prior to joining Sandollar, Baum was executive producer of David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers. She was also a studio Vice-President at Twentieth Century Fox and Lorimar. Additionally, she developed Taylor Hackford’s An Officer And A Gentleman and David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone.
Her roots are in New York City where she spent her early career in publishing, working for both Bantam Books and Random House and scouting for the English publisher Corgi. Her first movie job was at Edgar Sherick’s company, Palomar Pictures, where she developed Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives. Also in New York, at The Producer’s Circle, she developed the film versions of two best-selling novels: Stephen King’s The Shining and Ira Levin’s The Boys From Brazil. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Baum currently teaches producing at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and has written a “how to” book based on her 10 years at USC. Before that, she taught producing to graduate students at the American Film Institute Conservatory and the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. She is a Stark mentor board member. Board members serve as individual mentors for soon-to-be graduate students to provide counsel and support as students begin their careers.
Over the course of her highly successful career as a producer, studio executive, and teacher, Carol has mentored dozens of people, in and out of the movie business. Many of her students and assistants have gone on to enjoy prominent positions in Hollywood and elsewhere.
