Mark Saltzman
Emmy-winning writer
Mark Saltzman began his career in N.Y. with Jim Henson, writing for the Muppet television and stage shows. Mark’s “Sesame Street” sketches and songs (including “Caribbean Amphibian”) earned him seven Emmy Awards. But behind Kermit’s back, Mark was writing cabaret shows and musicals that played at The Ballroom, Soho Rep, 13th Street Theater, and the Village Gate, where he co-wrote the long-running revue “A, My Name is Alice.”
For network television, Mark wrote the Emmy-winning “Mrs. Santa Claus,” the holiday musical starring Angela Lansbury with songs by Jerry Herman. For the movies, he wrote “Adventures of Milo and Otis” and “Three Ninjas Kick Back” along with many screenplays for SONY, Universal, and Disney Pictures.
His TV movie, “The Red Sneakers”, directed by and starring Gregory Hines, aired on Showtime in 2004 and was nominated for a Writers Guild Award. In 2007, Mark served as writer-producer of the Disney Channel tv show “Johnny and the Sprites” starring John Tartaglia and served as executive producer for Disney’s film “The Poof Point.”
Mark’s musical play, “The Tin Pan Alley Rag” opened at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1997 and was nominated for five Los Angeles Ovation Awards, including Best Musical. The show continued on to The Coconut Grove Playhouse, Goodspeed, The Cleveland Playhouse and the Maltz Jupiter Theater in Florida. In June of 2009 “The Tin Pan Alley Rag” made its New York debut with Roundabout Theatre Company where it was nominated for an Outer Critic’s Choice Award.
Mark’s stage musical, “Romeo and Bernadette,” played at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami and New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, the first stage role for Andy Karl. Mark’s comedy, “Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood”, based on the 1933 visit of George Bernard Shaw to the MGM studio, premiered at the Laguna Playhouse in April 2003 and opened later in Chicago. In 2013, his musical play “Falling for Make Believe” based on the troubled Rodgers and Hart partnership, was a surprise hit for the Colony Theater in Los Angeles.
Mark is a graduate of Cornell University and the president of the Arnold Glassman Fund, a charitable foundation that provides grants for documentary film projects. He lives in Los Angeles with his partner Ron Gutierrez and their chow, Blanca.