Former photographer turned producer who teamed up with Icelander Sigurjon 'Joni' Sighvatsson to found Propaganda Films, a small independent firm which gained a comfortable foothold in the entertainment industry by producing music videos and video-style commercials for TV. By 1990 Propaganda was producing about one out of every three music videos made in the United States, yielding revenues of about $20 million a year for the company. Golin and Sighvatsson played a key role in making stars of rock acts like Guns'n'Roses and have been much in demand by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Prince.
Golin and his partner later moved into feature and TV production, bringing with them some of their video clientele (such as Madonna, whose documentary feature, "Truth or Dare" 1991, they produced). The ebullient duo also established a felicitous working relationship with David Lynch, producing his 1990 film "Wild at Heart" and contributing to his cult TV series, "Twin Peaks". Propaganda's ever-expanding projects have included the popular Fox TV series "Beverly Hills, 90210" and, as Golin has noted, "Even though you can't do everything, you can have access to most of the genres in the business. We think that's going to be the nature of things in the 1990s--finding a niche and carving a place out for yourself."
Education
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American Film Institute, Los Angeles, California, 1981
Milestones
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1981 Produced The Penny Elf , starring Christopher Lloyd, while at the AFI
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1983 Served as line producer for the feature film, Nickel Mountain (on which Sighvatsson also worked)
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1985 Co-founded (with Sighvatsson) Propaganda Films
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1987 Co-produced (with Sighvatsson) first feature film, Private Investigations
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1988 Co-produced (with Sighvatsson) first feature film for their Propaganda Films, The Blue Iguana
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1990 Co-executive produced TV-movie for TNT, Heat Wave
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1999 Served as one of the producers of Being John Malkovich
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2004 Executive Produced the Showtime drama The L Word
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2004 Produced second Charlie Kaufman film Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind starring Jim Carrey an Kate Winslet; film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy)
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2006 Produced the ensemble drama, Babel directed and co-produced by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu; earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture
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Met Sigurjon Joni Sighvatsson while studying at the AFI
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Served as producer and executive producer on over 150 music videos and advertisements for performers such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Don Henley, Prince, Guns n Roses and companies such as Nike, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Reebok
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Worked as an associate producer (along with Sighvatsson) on two low-budget features for the Patel/Shah Film Group, Hard Rock Zombies (1983) and American Drive-In (1985)