Sarah-Violet Bliss | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sarah-Violet Bliss |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College,New York University Tisch School of the Arts |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2010–present |
Sarah-Violet Bliss is an American screenwriter and director best known for writing and directing theindependentcomedy filmFort Tilden and theTBSdark comedy television seriesSearch Party.
Bliss attendedNew York University's MFA Film Program.[1] While there she collaborated withJames Franco and eleven other student filmmakers to co-directThe Color of Time, a film on the life of poetC.K. Williams that starred Franco,Mila Kunis andJessica Chastain. The film premiered at the 2012Rome Film Festival.[2] The film was released on December 12, 2014, in alimited release and throughvideo on demand by Starz Digital Media.[3]
In 2014, her filmFort Tilden, written and directed in collaboration withCharles Rogers, premiered atSXSW on March 8, 2014, where it won the SXSW Grand Jury award.[4][5] The film was acquired by revivedOrion Pictures and was released on August 14, 2015, in alimited release, and throughvideo on demand.[6][7] The film received generally positive reviews from major critics. Andy Webster ofThe New York Times said that "rarely has a movie so humorously illustrated the meaning of 'frenemy'", David Edelstein ofNew York Magazine calledFort Tilden "a brisk comedy packed with sharply drawn characters", and Katie Walsh of theLos Angeles Times said that the film "has an easy, funky groove and captures the sweaty perfection of a New York City summer, where things always look better on Instagram".[8][9][10]
Bliss and Rogers teamed up again for the 2016 comedy/mysteryTBS television seriesSearch Party, along withMichael Showalter, which starsAlia Shawkat as Dory,John Early as Elliott, John Reynolds as Drew,Meredith Hagner as Portia, andBrandon Micheal Hall as Julian.[11]
Search Party received critical acclaim; theLos Angeles Times wrote that it was "tightly made and effective on multiple levels",[12]GQ wrote that it is "a flawless oddity, a once-in-a-lifetime piece of art. It's not the weekend's best show, it's the year's best."[13] and the series holds a 100% approval rating on review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10.[14] OnMetacritic, the season holds a rating of 81 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[15] The second season ofSearch Party premiered on TBS on November 19, 2017 and received positive reviews from television critics. It holds a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes[16] and was called a "biting satire made for the Trump era" byVanity Fair.[17] When the show was renewed for season 5, both Bliss and Rogers signed a deal with HBO Max.[18]
In addition to her work onSearch Party, Bliss has worked as a writer on the first and second seasons of theNetflix seriesWet Hot American Summer as well as for the second season of theAmazon seriesMozart in the Jungle which won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.
Bliss has appeared on multiple episodes ofThe George Lucas Talk Show, including theMay the AR Be LI$$ You Arli$$ marathon streams, as well asThe George Lucas Holiday Special.[19]
In 2017,The Hollywood Reporter named Bliss and Rogers "Hollywood Power Showrunners: Ones To Watch" in their annual list of the top 50 television showrunners[20] and in 2016, the creative duo were namedVariety's 10 Writers to Watch.[21] She was also named one ofBuzzFeed's36 Female Creators Who Made Great TV in 2016.[22]