Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Detroit, Michigan, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 77

TV Involvements: 4


Most Famous Work

Biography

James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989. Schamus was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Jewish family.He is the son of Clarita (Gershowitz) Karlin and Julian John Schamus and was raised in Los Angeles. He is married to writer Nancy Kricorian, with whom he has two children. His output includes writing or co-writing The Ice Storm, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hulk (all directed by Ang Lee) and producing Brokeback Mountain and Alone in Berlin. At Focus he oversaw the production and distribution of Lost in Translation, Milk, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Coraline, and The Kids Are All Right. In addition to his tenure at Columbia University, he has also taught at Yale University and at Rutgers University. He is the author of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word, published by the University of Washington Press. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. Schamus made his feature directorial debut with Indignation, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel of the same name. Schamus also wrote the script for the film, which stars Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, and Tracy Letts, and is the story of a Jewish student at an Ohio college in 1951. The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Roadside Attractions on July 29, 2016. He was president of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. He has also been on the jury of the New York International Children's Film Festival and has served on the editorial boards of Film Quarterly and Cinema Journal, as well as on the board of Creative Capital and the Heyman Centre for the Humanities. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stephen Rosenbaum, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Most Famous Work

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms
Average
7
Brokeback Mountain
Average
8

Brokeback Mountain

(2005) Producer
The Assistant
Average
6

The Assistant

(2020) Producer
Hulk
Average
6

Hulk

(2003) Screenplay
Lust, Caution
Average
7

Lust, Caution

(2007) Executive Producer
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Average
7

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

(2000) Executive Producer
Casting JonBenet
Average
6

Casting JonBenet

(2017) Producer
The King's Daughter
Average
7

The King's Daughter

(2022) Screenplay

Acting

Production

Year Role Movie/Tv
2024 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
2021 Executive Producer
2020 Producer
Producer
2019 Producer
Producer
2018 Executive Producer
2017 Executive Producer
Producer
2016 Producer
Executive Producer
Producer
2015 Executive Producer
2014 Producer
2009 Producer
2007 Executive Producer
2005 Producer
2003 Producer
2002 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
2000 Executive Producer
1999 Executive Producer
Producer
Executive Producer
1998 Executive Producer
1997 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Producer
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
1996 Producer
Producer
1995 Co-Producer
Executive Producer
Producer
Executive Producer
1994 Executive Producer
Associate Producer
1993 Coordinating Producer
Producer
Coordinating Producer
1992 Associate Producer
Producer
Producer
Associate Producer
1991 Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Line Producer
Executive Producer
Producer
Producer
Year Role Movie/Tv

Writing

Crew

Year Role Movie/Tv
2021 Creator
Year Role Movie/Tv

Creator

Year Role Movie/Tv
2021 Creator
Year Role Movie/Tv

Directing


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