From Fox Point to L.A., John Scheinfeld Takes on Next Major Step in Hollywood Career

Fox Point native and Hollywood filmmaker John Scheinfeld is taking the next big step in his carrer as a documentry film maker by working on one of the most iconic subjects in the world, Elvis Presley.

Scheinfeld, who's documentaries have shown at theatres worldwide, is best known for his projects like, The U.S. vs. John Lennon (2006) and Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) (2006). But his potential biggest claim to fame, will be directing Fame & Fortune, a film based on the book Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business (2007) written by Presley's bodyguard, Sonny West.

This project is an indie film with a “nice budget,” according to Scheinfeld, and he is currently rewriting the script to bring it more in alignment with his personal vision for the film.

“I will direct the film once we get going. It’s a scripted feature with actors. It’s everything I used to see as a kid, and now I get to do it myself,” he said.

Scheinfeld's road to documentary

“I sort of stumbled into [documentaries], because I knew the grandson of Groucho Marx, so he gave me the rights to do [The Unknown Marx Brothers (1993)],” Scheinfeld said. “I was sort of the child who you throw into the swimming pool and say ‘Swim!’”

Born in Chicago, IL., Scheinfeld moved to Fox Point with his family when he was five years old, and his childhood left him with many fond memories of the area.

Despite the urgings of teachers and friends at the , where he went to high school, which encouraged students to head to the East Coast and Ivy League schools, he stayed in the Midwest. First attending Oberlin College & Conservatory in Oberlin, OH. for his bachelors degree, then Northwestern University in Evanston, IL., for his masters degree.

“There’s something about Oberlin and the spirit of Oberlin,” Scheinfeld said. “It was all about being yourself, being independent, going your own way—and that’s very much who I am as a person—so that place not only suited me but encouraged those aspects of who I am.”

And while many graduates begin with internships and more introductary positions, Scheinfeld went straight to the top snagging a position as development executive at Paramount Studios.

“I don’t quite know how that happened,” he said. While at Paramount, he developed new television shows, until moving on to MTM, or Mary Tyler Moore, Enterprises, where he worked on shows, like Hill Street Blues and Remington Steele.

“It was a tremendous learning experience for me, learning from the best producers and directors in television,” Scheinfeld said. “It was wonderful to watch them and absorb that like a sponge.”

The time then came where he went out on his own to produce and write—until the fateful day that he discovered the world of documentary filmmaking, a type of film work that he admits he never intended on doing.

“I am fond of saying to people, ‘I have the best job.’ I get to go to interesting places and talk to interesting people about interesting things,” Scheinfeld said.

An introspective look

“Because I’m very independent, I wear three hats when I’m making my documentaries: I direct, I write and I produce. Because of that, many of the documentaries I’ve done, I also own,” Scheinfeld said.

No matter what project he’s working on, however, he thinks of himself “first and foremost as a storyteller” and that he has a particular way of telling a story. He admires Ken Burns, Errol Morris and Michael Moore (“for some things”) for opening the general public’s eyes and expanding their awareness of the importance of documentaries and why they should go to a theater to see them. But it is the likes of Orson Welles, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola, whom he deems “the great moviemakers,” that influence his work and storytelling.

What is most evident about Scheinfeld is that he wholeheartedly loves what he does, and it is difficult for him to pinpoint any one part of his career that he is most proud of.

“Asking that is like asking a parent, “Which of your children is your favorite?” You love all your children, and you love all your experiences. I’ve been blessed to do a lot of things,” he said. “What fulfills me the most is that I get to do projects that nurture my soul or stimulate my brain or touch my heart or make me laugh, and that to me is a great job. Along the way, I’ve been able to meet really interesting famous people, and having the opportunity to do that is something I only dreamed about when I was growing up in Fox Point."

Midwest modesty

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) was part of last year’s line-up for the Milwaukee Film Festival, bringing Scheinfeld back to his roots here in Wisconsin where he had the opportunity to introduce his film to an audience of his family and friends.

“I have to say it was really cool that a movie I made played in a theater where I used to go as a kid to watch movies that other people made. Going to movies is what really inspired me to get in this business in the first place,” he said.

But whenever he comes home to Wisconsin, there's one place he has to stop at before leaving.

“I will confess to you that the one thing I miss most, aside from my mother, is Kopp’s,” Scheinfeld said. “I love that place, and, actually, when I come back to visit, one of the first stops we make is Kopp’s. You cannot get frozen custard in California. It’s a very Milwaukee thing.”

Scheinfeld’s mother still lives on the East Side of Milwaukee, and though he says it is hard to get back sometimes, he gives much credit to his Midwestern upbringing for who he has become.

“I think in many ways growing up in Wisconsin really shaped who I am as a person,” Scheinfeld said. “I think those of us from the Midwest are more grounded, a little more real, and I’d like to think we have a different world view that’s not all about money and climbing the ladder. Growing up in Fox Point gave me a real solid foundation on how I approach my life and how I approach my job.”

Let it also be known that he is still a diehard Packers fan, even though he has lived in Los Angeles, California, for many years now—in his words, “It remains in my DNA to be a Green Bay Packers fan.” Scheinfeld and a group of football-loving individuals, who are also in “the business,” even regularly get together to watch the big football games and cheer their respective teams on.

A healthy balance has been found, it seems, between loving where he came from and loving where he is presently at—as hard as people may have tried to discourage him from his dream along the way.

“I tell this story quite often, mostly with a smile on my face, but Milwaukee is one of those places that’s home. It’s comfortable, and it used to be that you could walk down the street and you’d see people you knew all the time—and a lot of people never left,” Scheinfeld said. “I had my eyes on a different landscape. I would share my dream with people, that I wanted to come out to Hollywood and become a filmmaker. If I had a dollar for everybody who said ‘Oh, you know the competition is too fierce and it’s so far away and you’ll never make it and why bother and just stay here,’ I would’ve been so rich I never would’ve had to leave Milwaukee.”

The way he talks of moving out of Wisconsin to California, it was not, is not and never has been about leaving—it was always about what lay ahead.

“I’ve always been driven by the dream. It wasn’t so much to leave Milwaukee, as it was to go to the place where they made movies,” Scheinfeld said. “There will always be a bit of Milwaukee in John.”