“My love for storytelling, the theater, and television was developed at Woodward,” says Jeff Stepakoff ‘81—writer, producer, professor, and executive director of Georgia Film Academy. “I thought, ‘This is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.’ I mean, I didn’t know anyone who was doing it, I didn’t know how to get there, but I knew that’s what I wanted to do—and Woodward is where I found my passion for it.”

That’s quite a compliment to Woodward theater and WATV, given Stepakoff has gone on to write and produce runaway hit shows like The Wonder Years and Dawson’s Creek, in addition to more than a dozen other television series. Beyond cable and network television, Stepakoff has worked on projects for film studios, including writing for several major motion pictures. He’s also written plays and even video games, while his bestselling novels are printed worldwide in more than 21 languages. What’s more, his vast knowledge of storytelling and the entertainment industry have landed him professorships around the country, and he currently holds a position at Kennesaw State University here in Atlanta.

But Stepakoff’s greatest passion—and perhaps what will be his greatest contribution to the entertainment world—is his work as the executive director of Georgia Film Academy, putting Georgians to work while creating a thriving, sustainable local film and television industry. He is working to accomplish something in Georgia that no state outside of New York and California has done. While plenty of states have used tax credits to lure film and television production, none have managed to create a local industry to support the business long-term. Georgia Film Academy provides the production training Georgians need to benefit from the booming film business. In years to come, the Academy aims to provide not just technical training but also support for content creation--writing, editing, script development, producing--such that creative Georgians will never have to leave to make their projects. With a local, highly-skilled workforce, the increasingly realistic hope is that the new entertainment economy will become self-sustaining. In Stepakoff’s words, “People will stop calling us ‘The Hollywood of the South’; we’ll just be ‘Georgia.’” He adds, “It’s a privilege to be a part of this. Putting Georgians to work has been the most satisfying piece of it...and we’re getting there! I think you’ll see in a few years, it’ll be ‘peaches, peanuts, production’--a legacy industry for us.”

One of the hallmarks of Stepakoff’s career is an ability to evolve with a changing industry, adapting to different genres, new technology, and whatever else the market demands. “Part of it is how I’m wired,” he says. “I’m always looking to learn, I’m always looking to better myself, I’m always looking for what’s next--in terms of both career and personal life.” While tackling new and different projects has been the name of the game throughout his career, he describes classic storytelling as the necessary foundation and common denominator among these diverse platforms: “characters you care about and identify with, characters who are going through a challenging time, an inciting incident that upsets their journey, elements along the way that further their drama—it’s classic Aristotelian story structure.”

And where did Jeff Stepakoff first learn these basics of storytelling that have carried him through such a varied and renowned career? He cites Woodward faculty like Susan Greer, Len Clemens, Michael Heck, Joy Fulton, Bill Lineberry, and Ron McCollum—a touching reminder that, at Woodward, every day we’re surrounded by the humble beginnings of wildly successful, fantastic futures.