Marty Kaplan holds the Norman Lear chair at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where he founded and directs the Norman Lear Center, a hub of research and innovation that marshals the power of storytelling as a force for good. The center’s Hollywood, Health and Society Program provides screenwriters with free consultations from experts in medicine, public health and other fields; its Media Impact Project measures the effects of stories on audiences; its Walter Cronkite Award honors excellence in political journalism.  

Marty brings an uncommonly diverse background to his work, spanning science, literature, politics, journalism, entertainment and media studies. 

The president of the Harvard Lampoon, Marty graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in molecular biology. As a Marshall Scholar to Cambridge University, he received a master’s in English with First Class Honours. His doctorate is from Stanford, where he received the university’s first PhD in modern thought and literature.

Marty was Vice President Walter Mondale's chief speechwriter in the Carter Administration and Mondale's deputy campaign manager in the 1984 presidential election. He also worked at Walt Disney Studios, first as vice president of production for live-action feature films and then as a screenwriter and producer. His credits include “The Distinguished Gentleman,” a political comedy starring Eddie Murphy that he wrote and executive produced; “Noises Off,” directed by Peter Bogdanovich, which he adapted for the screen from Michael Frayn’s farce; and the action-adventure "MAX Q," produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

A frequent commentator on media, politics and pop culture, Marty's columns have won six first-place journalism awards from the Los Angeles Press Club. He has also been a featured contributor to public radio’s All Things Considered and Marketplace and on network news.