John Tarnoff
American film producer
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John Tarnoff (born 1952) is a coach who provides career counseling for late career professionals.
A 40-year veteran of the Los Angeles entertainment industry, Tarnoff's career hit a wall at age 50. The tech startup he had co-founded was wiped out by the bursting of the dot-com “bubble,” and like many late career, baby boomer professionals in similar circumstances, felt uncertain and adrift in his career. He decided to go back to school and earned a master's degree in spiritual psychology. Tarnoff then became head of show development at DreamWorks Animation.[1] from 2006 – 2009.[2][3][4][5]
In 2010, he joined the Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College Masters of Entertainment Industry Management program, as a professor and head of industry relations.[6] He has also consulted for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Australian Film, TV & Radio School, the ACME Network, a digital distance learning company, and The Boeing Company.
In 2012, he launched his Boomer Reinvention career coaching program[7] to support late career baby boomers looking to start sustainable second act or encore careers beyond traditional retirement. He is the author of the book: "Boomer Reinvention: How to Create Your Dream Career after 50" (Reinvention Press, Los Angeles 2017).
Tarnoff began his career in the mid-1970s working as a literary agent, and then as a film studio production executive and film producer. In these capacities, he was responsible for films including Diner, The Year of Living Dangerously, Pink Floyd The Wall, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Power of One. A co-founder of Village Roadshow Pictures in 1988, he pioneered U.S./Australian co-productions in the late 1980s and early 1990s executive producing a handful of films including The Delinquents[8] and Prisoners of the Sun.[9]
Branching into multimedia development in 1994, he licensed the interactive rights to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and produced the video game Big Brother based on the book.[10] He and director John Badham co-wrote the PC/PlayStation game WarGames, based on Badham's movie.[11]
From 1995 to 2003, with writer and artist Robit Hairman, he co-founded Talkie, Inc.,[12] a technology company that created online conversational animated characters for marketing, brand building, lead generation, customer service and training. Talkie created "Claire,"[13][14] Sprint PCS' automated customer service rep.
Tarnoff holds a B.A. from Amherst College, and a M.A. in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. He grew up in New York and Paris, and lives in Los Angeles.