Tom Schulman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas H. Schulman (1950-10-20)October 20, 1950 (age 75) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Occupations | Screenwriter,film director |
Thomas H. Schulman (born October 20, 1950) is an American screenwriter best known for his semi-autobiographical screenplayDead Poets Society, which won theAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay in1989.[1][2][3][4]
Following high school atMontgomery Bell Academy, Schulman earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in philosophy, graduating in 1972 fromVanderbilt University inNashville. Schulman pursued his interest in film at theUniversity of Southern California's Graduate School of Cinema.[5]
Dead Poets Society won theAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director (Peter Weir).[6] The character of John Keating was inspired by one of Schulman's teachers at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville.[7]
Prior toDead Poets Society, Schulman had already written several telemovies. However,Dead Poets Society was his first movie script to reach the screen. He was hired to rewrite the hit movieHoney, I Shrunk the Kids shortly before the film was due to begin shooting; Schulman had just seven days to turn it from a drama into a comedy.[8]
Other scripts written or co-written by Schulman include comediesWelcome to Mooseport,What About Bob?,Second Sight (which Schulman sold the same day asDead Poets Society) andHoly Man, which starsEddie Murphy. TheSean Connery dramaMedicine Man, originally entitledThe Stand,[6] proved a critical failure. Schulman executive produced the movieIndecent Proposal.
Schulman's directorial debut was the 1997 black comedy8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, which starsJoe Pesci as a gangster attempting to transport a bag of severed heads across the United States.[9] In 2022, Schulman returned to directing withDouble Down South, a seedy sports drama set in Mississippi's underground keno pool scene (a world Schulman encountered as a teenager).
In 2009, Schulman was elected vice president of theWriters Guild of America, West.[10] He was a member of the WGA negotiating committee during the extended writers' strike of 2023.[11]
| Year | Film | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Joy Ride: An Auto Theft | Written by, assistant director | Short film, co-wrote with Bill Crain |
| 1986 | The Gladiator | Story by, executive producer | Co-wrote story with Jeffrey Walker and William Bleich |
| 1988 | A Father's Revenge | Story by | Co-wrote story with Mel Frohman |
| 1989 | Dead Poets Society | Written by | |
| Honey, I Shrunk the Kids | Screenplay by | Co-wrote screenplay withEd Naha | |
| Second Sight | Written by | Co-wrote withPatricia Resnick | |
| 1991 | What About Bob? | Screenplay by | |
| 1992 | Medicine Man | Screenplay by, story by | Co-wrote screenplay with Sally Robinson |
| 1993 | Indecent Proposal | Executive producer | |
| 1997 | 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag | Director, written by | |
| 1998 | Holy Man | Written by | |
| 1999 | Genius | Executive producer | |
| 2000 | Me, Myself & Irene | Executive producer | |
| 2004 | Welcome to Mooseport | Screenplay by, producer | |
| 2019 | My Dad, Stephanie | Consulting producer | |
| 2022 | Double Down South | Director, Written by, Producer |
