A reporter, he claimed, from the young age of 17, Paul Franklin became a busy radio writer in the early '20s, penning such popular broadcasts as Hollywood Hotel and Manhattan at Midnight. A member of the council of Radio Writers Guild from 1939, Franklin was elected president two years later. As a screenwriter, he penned the notorious exploitation melodrama Reefer Madness (1936) and wrote for such B-Western stars as Gene Autry and Charles Starrett. He was elected to the executive board of Screenwriters Guild 1942-1943 and functioned as vice chair of the wartime Hollywood Writers Mobilization. In the 1950s, Franklin wrote for such television programs as Sea Hunt.