Kent Weishaus will share his journey from Sonoma State in the 1970’s, to having a 25-year career directing and producing in Hollywood, to walking away and becoming a psychotherapist.  He’ll share dozens of stories about working with hundreds of stars, from Dick Clark to Cybil Shepherd, Arsenio Hall to Jay Leno, Wolfgang Puck to Ringo Starr, Donnie Osmond to Jerry Seinfeld, and the reason he ultimately chose to pursue a different path.

Kent Weishaus went to Sonoma State in the mid 1970’s, receiving his Bachelor’s in Theater Arts.  In 1978 he began a 25-year career in television production, hired by Dick Clark Productions, working on “American Bandstand,” “The American Music Awards,” “New Years’ Rockin’ Eve,” “The Academy of Country Music Awards,” and three made-for-TV movies. In the early 80’s he was brought on Alan Thicke’s first TV show, “Thicke of the Night,” Then Kent began a long affiliation with Paramount Pictures, working as Production Manager of “Solid Gold.”  In 1986 Johnny Carson Productions brought Mr. Weishaus on as Associate Producer of their hit sit-com, “Amen.”  Kent later became Associate Producer for 4 Disney TV specials.  Mr. Weishaus returned to Paramount in 1989 to become Associate Producer of “The Arsenio Hall Show.”  This hit late-night show ran for 5 1/2 years.  Kent subsequently was Supervising Producer of an ABC “Lassie” special, and then a producer on a Paramount late-night pilot featuring MTV’s Bill Bellamy. 

Making a lateral move into post-production and live booth duties, in 1995 Mr. Weishaus became Associate Director of “Hard Copy.”  In 1999 and 2000 he was Associate Director of “Richard Simmons’ Dream Maker,” “Pyramid,” and “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,” where he wrote, directed and produced those show’s opens, teases, and supervised all editing.   In 2002, as Associate Director of The Food Network’s “Wolfgang Puck Show,” his team won an Emmy Award for best Direction. Kent simultaneously was Coordinating Producer of “The Prism Awards,” Associate Director for KABC News, and even handled stage managing the Academy Awards red-carpet pre-show around the same time.  In 2003 Kent was brought in to handle all post-production for the newly launched “Dr. Phil” show, while at the same time he was Co-Executive Producer on a pilot that he created for ABC Family called “Arts High, Idyllwild.”  Between 2004 and 2006 he oversaw all content production at Rehearsals.com, an online streaming-video venture that featured top music acts in rehearsal for concert tours. 

Kent then left the entertainment business to pursue his Masters of Social Work and begin a new career as a Clinical Therapist in acute-care psychiatric hospitals.  He is now semi-retired, working as a psychotherapist in private practice 2 days a week. Kent and his wife, Amy Fogerson, moved back to Sonoma County last year.

The Bagel Club invites you to join us on the first Sunday of each month for a bagel brunch followed by a live speaker. Brunch includes a selection of bagels, cream cheese, lox and all the trimmings. We welcome all CST members to join us.

We request a donation of $10 for the meal.