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Jay Wolpert

Writer · Died January 2, 2022, aged 79 · Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Jay Wolpert is an American television producer and screenwriter. Wolpert began his game show producing career working for US quiz scandal figure Dan Enright in Canada. He later worked as a producer and creator of game shows for Chuck Barris Productions and Goodson-Todman Productions. While at Goodson-Todman, he served as producer of The Price is Right from 1972 until 1978. Wolpert left Goodson-Todman to form his own production company. His first game show was the 1979 series Whew! for CBS. Whew! was canceled in 1980 and Wolpert didn't return to television with a series until January 1983, despite shooting several pilots in the interim. On January 3, 1983, Wolpert's Hit Man debuted on NBC with Peter Tomarken. Like most of Wolpert's productions, Hit Man was short-lived and left the air after thirteen weeks. Five years later, Wolpert returned to daytime television with the series Blackout for CBS. Debuting on January 4, 1988 in place of the long-running hit The $25,000 Pyramid, Blackout never found an audience as. The Bob Goen-hosted Blackout ended after thirteen weeks of episodes and was replaced by The $25,000 Pyramid. In 1990 Wolpert launched a new series on the Lifetime network based on a pilot he had shot in 1981 with Tomarken as host. On February 5, 1990, Rodeo Drive debuted with comedienne Louise DuArt hosting. Again, however, Wolpert was behind a short lived series and Rodeo Drive ended its run on August 31 of that year; the show had only aired twelve weeks of new episodes prior to that and had been in reruns until the program was removed from Lifetime's lineup. After a hiatus, Wolpert returned to the Goodson Productions team and produced a new Price is Right series for Goodson and Paramount Television. The New Price is Right debuted in syndication in September 1994, with Wolpert producing. But as with Wolpert's previous three series, ratings for The New Price is Right were lacking and it resulted in a cancellation after sixteen weeks in January 1995. In 1996 Wolpert and The Family Channel teamed up for two series. One was Wait 'til You Have Kids, another short-lived series based on The Parent Game, a series produced by Wolpert's previous employer Chuck Barris. The other was the popular Shopping Spree, which ran for nearly two years and was Wolpert's longest-running game show in his company's history. After Shopping Spree went off the air in August 1998, Wolpert's company stopped producing programming. He was executive producer of the 1998 version of Match Game. Despite having worked for Goodson during the 1970's, he didn't work on the 1970's version of that show. More recently, Wolpert has turned to screenwriting, writing the script for The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and receiving a story credit for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). In the 2010-11 season, Wolpert is listed as a consultant during the credits of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and had some input in that season's format changes. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jay Wolpert, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
January 29, 1942
Died
January 2, 2022 (aged 79)
From
Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Works as
Writer
Titles
8 on MovieCove · 17 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 63 days to Oct 26Down 39% in 30 days

What are Jay Wolpert's films like?

Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Morality.

Themes

share of theme weight
Bonds
46%
Morality
42%
Power
12%
Loyalty2 titles, browse their movies with this theme

What they feel like to watch

their average across 3 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category
Serious: How heavy the subject matter and outlook get. Browse their serious movies.
Tone · Weight
lightdark

A split, not a type: Light 2 · Serious 1 · Dark 0

Stylized: How far its world departs from everyday reality. Browse their stylized movies.
Tone · Style
naturalisticheightened

A split, not a type: Grounded 0 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 2

Charged: How hard the emotional peaks hit while you watch. Browse their charged movies.
Feel · Intensity
gentleintense

Gentle 0 · Charged 2 · Intense 1

Shifting: How much it swings between very different feelings. Browse their shifting movies.
Feel · Swings
steadyswings

Steady 1 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0

Some laughs: How much of the runtime is played for laughs. Browse their some laughs movies.
Feel · Humor
noneconstant

A split, not a type: Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 2

Even-paced: How fast it moves from scene to scene. Browse their even-paced movies.
Demand · Pace
slowrelentless

Slow burn 0 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 1

Engaged: How much focus it asks of you — look away and lose the thread? Browse their engaged movies.
Demand · Attention
casualfull focus

Casual 1 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 0

Resolved: How much is left for you to interpret. Browse their resolved movies.
Demand · Resolution
resolvedambiguous

Resolved 3 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0

Moods and endings

endings shown from 5 titles

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Thrilling
2
Tense
1
Romantic
2
Melancholic
1
Joyful
1
Other
1

How their films linger

Fun2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteFeel-good2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteRousing2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertaste

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Jay Wolpert's films?

As of October 24, 2026, all 8 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Disney+ (6).

Subscription and free streaming for Jay Wolpert's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

17 credits, 8 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.

Career shape

A full career of 16 titles, 11 of them dated from 1976 to 2017.

Biggest box office

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

$1B worldwide

Highest rated

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Midcredits 98th

Film career

By role

only this rolewith another role
Acting2 of 16: 2 only acting, 0 with another roleWriting7 of 16: 7 only writing, 0 with another role · typical Midcredits score92ndProducing1 of 16: 0 only producing, 1 with another roleOther crew7 of 16: 6 only other crew, 1 with another role

By decade

1970s1 · crew1980s1 · crew1990s3 · 2 acting · 1 crew2000s4 · crew2010s2 · crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.

How do Jay Wolpert's films land?

Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 75th percentile, the median of all 8; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 92nd percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

92ndpercentile
Typical film, the median of 3

Approval · how many liked their films

96thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 3

Reach · how many have seen their films

99thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 3

Midcredits score across 8 titles, by percentile

  • 75th and up4
  • 50th to 74th2
  • 25th to 49th1
  • Below 25th1

Shape of the crowd

None of their 8 titles divides audiences: 3 are Universally Loved.

  • Universally Loved3
  • Crowd Pleaser3
  • Broadly Agreed2

Most loved · writer

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Midcredits 98th · 91% liked

Reviewers score the dialogue 63/100 and the plot and story 50/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Is Jay Wolpert's work okay for kids?

Across a limited sample of up to 3 MovieCove titles with content scores.

Their medianMedian of all films
Violence & Gore3 titlesmedian 57 · moderateMedian of all films: 44
Sex & Nudity3 titlesmedian 36 · moderateMedian of all films: 32
Profanity3 titlesmedian 31 · mildMedian of all films: 36
Alcohol & Drugs3 titlesmedian 36 · moderateMedian of all films: 33
Frightening / Intense3 titlesmedian 54 · moderateMedian of all films: 39

Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.

Who does Jay Wolpert work with?

People who share at least 2 of Jay Wolpert's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Stuart Beattie shares the most, 2.

Writers

Actors

Cinematographers

Producers