Director Jason Woliner on ‘Paul T. Goldman’ and ‘Borat’ Sequel

Episode notes

(Photo: Peacock)

Jason Woliner is mostly known as a director. Alongside Paul Scheer, Aziz Ansari, and Rob Huebel, he was a behind the camera member of Human Giant, the sketch comedy series. 

Jason also directed episodes of Parks and Recreation, Nathan for You and The Last Man on Earth. In 2020, he directed his first ever major motion picture: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. 

For the last ten years, Jason’s been working on a documentary. The TV show is about a man who calls himself Paul T. Goldman. 

Goldman claims, among many other things, that his former wife stole money from him and ran a human trafficking ring. Paul T. Goldman wrote a book about it, and then he wrote a screenplay for an action movie based on the book.

Jason received a tweet from Paul, nearly a decade ago and became fascinated by the story Paul told.  The two met and they talked about Paul’s story, and discussed ways to make his movie a reality. Jason started rolling tape immediately.

The plans for a movie became a TV show called Paul T. Goldman on Peacock. Over six episodes, Paul tells us about his marriage. With Jason directing, Paul acts out scenes from his screenplay.

The documentary is about Paul’s quest to share his story with the world, and what it means when that story isn’t reflected in what actually took place.

The show is a commentary on true crime as much as it is a true crime show – and because of how long it took to make the show, the series became a documentary about making the TV show. It’s a wild and engrossing series with so many intricate layers.  

We’ll talk with Jason Woliner about Paul T. Goldman, and the meta nature of the show. Plus, we’ll dive into Jason’s time directing Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and the way things became very dangerous for him on set. 

Paul T. Goldman is streaming now on Peacock.