Jeff Schaffer (born 1970) is an American film and television director, writer, and producer.

Early life and education

Schaffer and his brother Greg (also a film and TV writer and producer) were raised in the Warren– Howland, Ohio area, about east of Cleveland. He is Jewish. After graduating from Western Reserve Academy in

Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in northern Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan area. John Brown made his first public vow to destroy slavery here and the ci ...

, Schaffer attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, where he was on the staff of the humor publication ''

The Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate Humor magazine, humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seve ...

''.

Career

Television

After college, Schaffer and his ''Harvard Lampoon ''writing pals Alec Berg and

David Mandel David Mandel (born ) is a writer, actor, director, and producer. He was an executive producer and showrunner of '' Veep'', and also an executive producer and director of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and ''Seinfeld''. He is also a comedian, and one ...

wrote several episodes of the

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

. He also served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

during its ninth season. He also held various other positions on the show such as program consultant, supervising producer and

story editor Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called supervising producer. The responsibilities of the story editor vary depending on the production; this article describes the duties the role most commo ...

. Schaffer is credited with creating the Festivus pole. Schaffer directed several episodes of ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'' and also served as executive producer for several episodes. Notably, Schaffer directed "

", the finale episode of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''s seventh season, which featured a reunion of the original cast of the ''Seinfeld'' series (for which the star and creator of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'',

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...

, was co-creator, head writer and executive producer). ''

The League ''The League'' is an American television sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football l ...

'' is a "semi-improvised series" which was created by Schaffer and his wife Jackie Schaffer. Schaffer worked with Dave Burd to create '' Dave'', a sitcom that is loosely based on Burd's life as a rapper. The show premiered on FXX on March 4, 2020. The show's second season premiered on June 16, 2021.

Film

Schaffer wrote and directed '' EuroTrip'', a 2004 teen comedy, and participated in the screenplay for the 2003 adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book ''

The Cat in the Hat ''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by American author Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red bow tie. The Cat shows up at the house ...

''. Other scripts he helped write include two comedy features starring

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen ( ; born 13 October 1971) is an English comedian, actor and performance artist. Known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haf ...

, '' Brüno'' (2009) and '' The Dictator'' (2012). On the latter film, Alec Berg and David Mandel — former ''Seinfeld'' writers as well as friends and collaborators with Schaffer since college — also collaborated, and veteran ''Seinfeld'' writer and ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' director Larry Charles directed. All four would later write the TV movie '' Clear History'' starring Larry David.

Festivus pole

Dan O'Keefe, who worked with Schaffer on ''

'', credits Schaffer with introducing the concept of the Festivus pole as the only decoration for Festivus, the December 23 holiday. Festivus was popularized in the 1997 ''Seinfeld'' episode "The Strike". The aluminum pole was not part of the original O'Keefe family celebration, which centered on putting a clock in a bag and nailing it to a wall.

Personal life

Schaffer married the former Jackie Marcus, also his professional partner, particularly on ''The League''; their life experiences have often been translated into the plot of the series. They have a daughter, Arwen (named for the character in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

''), born in 2012.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaffer, Jeff American male screenwriters Film directors from Ohio American television directors Television producers from Ohio American television writers German-language film directors Living people Writers from Cleveland American male television writers The Harvard Lampoon alumni Screenwriters from Ohio Film producers from Ohio Western Reserve Academy alumni 1970 births Jewish American screenwriters