Tisch has also been active on the small screen, especially after forming Tisch-Avnet Productions with Jon Avnet. The company has produced several TV-movies since the mid-1970s including the Emmy Award-winning "The Burning Bed" (1984), which reinvented Farrah Fawcett's career, and "Calendar Girl Murders" (1984), which introduced a then unknown Sharon Stone. Tisch-Avnet are also responsible for the short-lived series "Call to Glory" (1984) and "Dirty Dancing" (1988).
Just after launching his own company Steve Tisch Productions in 1985, Tisch hired business executive Wendy Finerman as vice president for production and development. Finerman discovered the galleys for Winston Groom's satirical novel "Forrest Gump" and, recognizing the book's cinematic potential, convinced Tisch to option it. Nine years later, after numerous setbacks, "Forrest Gump" (1994) became one of the highest grossing films of all time and winner of six Academy Awards.