Stephen Schiff

Stephen Schiff is an American screenwriter, producer, and journalist. He is best known for his work at The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, his screenplays for Lolita, True Crime, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and his work as a writer and producer on the FX television series The Americans.

Stephen Schiff
Born
Detroit, Michigan, United States
OccupationWriter
Home townLittleton, Colorado, United States
AwardsGolden Globe, Pulitzer Prize finalist, two Writers Guild of America Awards and two additional nominations, Writers Guild of America Richard B. Jablow Award, Peabody Award, two Emmy Award nominations, Critics Choice Award, American Film Institute Award, Television Critics Association Award, Producers Guild Award

Early life

Schiff grew up in Littleton, Colorado.[1] He graduated from Wesleyan University.[2]

Career

Schiff began his writing career at The Boston Phoenix, where he became the chief film critic and film editor (succeeding David Denby),[3] and hired and trained such critics as Owen Gleiberman and David Edelstein.

In 1983, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.[4][5] Later that year, he was named Critic-at-Large of Vanity Fair, a post he held until 1992, when he became a staff writer at The New Yorker, specializing in cultural profiles, many of which appeared under his rubric, "Cultural Pursuits."[6] His subjects included Steven Spielberg, V. S. Naipaul, Stephen Sondheim, Oliver Stone, Muriel Spark, and Edward Gorey.[7]

From 1987 until 1996, Schiff was also the Film Critic of National Public Radio's Fresh Air.[8] He served three terms as chairman of the National Society of Film Critics,[9][10] and spent two seasons as a Correspondent on CBS-TV's prime-time newsmagazine West 57th, whose other Correspondents included Steve Kroft and Meredith Vieira.[11]

In 1995, Schiff was asked to write a screenplay adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, by the prospective film's then-producer, Richard Zanuck. It was Schiff's first screenplay, and the controversial film that was made from it, directed by Adrian Lyne, was released in 1998.[12] In her New York Times review, critic Caryn James called "Stephen Schiff's discerning, faithful screenplay [...] sensitive to Nabokov's wit as well as his lyricism."[13]

Schiff became a full-time screenwriter,[14] leaving The New Yorker in 2003. His subsequent films include The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), starring Michelle Pfeiffer;[15] True Crime (1999), directed by and starring Clint Eastwood; Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), Oliver Stone's sequel to the 1987 film Wall Street;[16] and American Assassin (2017).[17]. He worked on the screenplays for Unfaithful (2002), starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere, and Leatherheads (2008), directed by and starring George Clooney, without receiving credit.[18]

In 2013, Schiff became a writer and consulting producer of the FX television series The Americans,[19] starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. He continued with the show for the rest of its six-season run, rising to the position of writer/executive producer for its last two seasons.[20]

Schiff's episode "The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears" (Season 4, Episode 8) was named the best episode of the entire series by New York magazine.[21]

For his work on The Americans, Schiff won a Golden Globe,[22] the Peabody Award,[23]two Writers Guild of America Awards,[24] the Critics Choice Award,[25] the Television Critics Association Award,[26] the American Film Institute Award (for "Contribution to America's Cultural Legacy"),[27] and the Producers Guild Award.[28] He also received two Prime Time Emmy Award nominations and two additional Writers Guild of America Award nominations.[29]

During Schiff's tenure with the show, The Americans was nominated for 72 major awards, winning 23 of them.[30]

From 2011 to 2016, he was also the writer and executive producer of the extreme sports documentary series Ultimate Rush.[31]

Schiff served four terms on the governing Council of the Writers Guild of America East. He also served as the Writers Guild's National Chairman and twice headed the East's negotiating committee. In 2002, he was given the Guild's Richard B. Jablow Award.[32]

Since 2005, he has served as chairman of the Board of the Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, which publishes Parabola magazine. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Writers Guild of America, the Producer's Guild of America, and PEN America.

He contributed the critical essay on Nabokov's Lolita to Harvard University Press's landmark scholarly compendium A New Literary History of America, which was published in September, 2009.[33]

In December 2009, Henry Holt and Company announced that it would publish Schiff's forthcoming biography of Norman Mailer.[34]

In November 2018, Schiff was hired by Lucasfilm to serve as showrunner for the untitled Cassian Andor TV series. He left the show in February 2020, and in April 2020 Tony Gilroy became the showrunner.

Filmography

Bibliography
  • Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph; Baughman, Judith; le Carre, John, Conversations With John Le Carre (Literary Conversations Series), Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, pp. 93–106, ISBN 1-57806-669-7
  • Gorey, Edward; Wilkin, Karen (2001), Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey: Interviews, San Diego, California: Harcourt, pp. 136–157, ISBN 0-15-100504-4
  • Huffhines, Kathy Schulz (1991), Foreign affairs: the National Society of Film Critics' video guide to foreign films, San Francisco: Mercury House, ISBN 1-56279-016-1
  • Jameson, Richard T. (1994), They went thataway: redefining film genres: a National Society of Film Critics video guide, San Francisco: Mercury House, ISBN 1-56279-055-2
  • Jussawalla, Feroza F. (1997), Conversations with V. S. Naipaul, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, pp. 135–153, ISBN 0-87805-946-6
  • Keough, Peter; Society of Film Critics, National (1995), Flesh and blood: the National Society of Film Critics on sex, violence, and censorship, San Francisco: Mercury House, ISBN 1-56279-076-5CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Lupack, Barbara Tepa (1998), Critical essays on Jerzy Kosinski, New York: G.K. Hall, pp. 221–235, ISBN 0-7838-0073-8
  • Rainer, Peter (1992), Love and hisses: the National Society of Film Critics sound off on the hottest movie controversies, San Francisco: Mercury House, ISBN 1-56279-031-5
  • Schiff, Stephen (1998), Lolita: The Book of the Film, Milwaukee: Applause Books, p. 226, ISBN 1-55783-354-0
  • Schiff, Stephen (April 30, 2000), Summer Films: Screen play -- Edith Wharton Gets the Treatment (3 Ways); Meeting Cute on a Far Planet: The Bibliodromist Knows Best, The New York Times, retrieved 13 August 2009
  • Spielberg, Steven; Notbohm, Brent; Friedman, Lester D. (2000), Steven Spielberg: interviews, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, pp. 170–192, ISBN 1-57806-113-X
  • Sragow, Michael (1990), Produced and abandoned: the best films you've never seen, San Francisco: Mercury House, ISBN 0-916515-84-2
  • Stoppard, Tom; Delaney, Paul (1994), Tom Stoppard in conversation, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, pp. 212–224, ISBN 0-472-06561-0
  • Thiroux, Emily (1997), Cultures: diversity in reading and writing, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-400128-1pp. 96–105
gollark: I mean, unless you count the bad economic damage.
gollark: I don't think *that's* accurate.
gollark: <@665664987578236961> Why are you trying to compare flu season deaths to COVID-19 deaths? Are you aware of the idea of "different numbers of people being infected right now" and "exponential growth"?
gollark: Seems reasonable.
gollark: Now, rebuilding society will be much easier if your bunker also contains a giant manufacturing facility with everything needed to make at least late-20th-century tech. But that would need people to operate, so add those too, and also extra room and food and whatnot for them.

References
  1. Schiff, Stephen (April 22, 1999). "Littleton, Then and Now". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  2. Dunne, Susan (November 29, 2007). "Going From Book To Film". The Hartford Courant.
  3. Keough, Peter (1–8 October 1998), Lolita seduces, Nabokov's masterpiece crosses the line, The Boston Phoenix, archived from the original on 2009-05-06, retrieved 2009-08-14
  4. The Pulitzer Prizes 1983 Finalists, Columbia University: The Pulitzer Prizes, retrieved 2009-08-14
  5. The Pulitzer Prizes Criticism, Columbia University: The Pulitzer Prizes, retrieved 2009-08-14
  6. Carmody, Deirdre (1992-07-02). "www.nytimes.com/1992/07/02/arts/a-tina-brown-goal-for-the-new-yorker-it-s-all-about-mix.html". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2009-08-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=stephen+schiff".
  9. Maslin, Janet (1985-01-03). "www.nytimes.com/1985/01/03/movies/stranger-than-paradise-wins-award.html". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  10. "www.nytimes.com/1987/01/05/movies/critics-vote-blue-velvet-best-86-film.html". The New York Times. 1987-01-05. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  11. www.imdb.com/title/tt0088638/
  12. Weinraub, Bernard (1998-08-05). "www.nytimes.com/1998/08/05/movies/lolita-defying-expectations.html". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  13. James, Caryn (1998-07-31). "www.nytimes.com/1998/07/31/movies/television-review-revisiting-a-dangerous-obsession.html". The New York Times.
  14. Rooney, David; Harris, Dana (2004-07-28). "www.variety.com/article/VR1117908391.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1". Variety. Archived from the original on 2012-09-15.
  15. Maslin, Janet (1999-03-12). "www.nytimes.com/1999/03/12/movies/film-review-a-child-is-gone-and-then-he-is-not.html". The New York Times.
  16. Cieply, Michael (2007-05-05). "www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/movies/05movi.html". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  18. www.imdb.com/name/nm0771496/
  19. "The Americans Recap: Partial Truths". 20 March 2014.
  20. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/fullcredits
  22. https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-americans-wins-golden-globe-best-tv-drama-series-1202529550/
  24. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771496/awards
  25. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771496/awards
  27. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771496/awards
  28. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771496/awards
  29. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771496/awards
  30. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/awards
  31. Template:Un icon Archived 2014-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
  32. "Special Awards History, 1978-2009". Writers Guild of America, East. 1 July 2008. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  33. "A New Literary History of America, Edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors". Newliteraryhistory.com. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  34. "Holt Acquires Schiff Bio of Mailer".
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