In 1961, Woodfield co-authored The Ninth Life with Martin Machlin, documenting the infamous Caryl Chessman murder trial and execution.
In 1962 Woodfield—along with Lawrence Schiller and Jimmy Mitchell—gained fame when Marilyn Monroe extended an invitation to a photo shoot on a closed set at the Twentieth Century Fox studio lot.
[4] In the 1960s and 1970s, Woodfield would team with writer/producer Allan Balter to earn numerous awards for work in television.
[5] Woodfield and Balter were credited with opening up Mission: Impossible's story lines, which had previously been physical problems to solve (break into a prison, uncover a hidden message), by having the agents play grand-scale confidence games on the mission targets, to misdirect and manipulate them.
The approach had great story potential, gave the series its own identity, and helped make Mission a hit.