{{Infobox person , name = Stephen Schiff , image = Stephen Schiff at the Peabody Awards 2019.jpg , image_size = 140 , alt = , caption = Schiff at the Peabody Awards 2019 , birth_name = , birth_date = , birth_place =

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States , education = , alma_mater = , occupation = Writer , years_active = , awards =

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

finalist, two

Writers Guild of America Awards The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility The ...

and two additional nominations,

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

Richard B. Jablow Award,

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

, two

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nominations, Critics Choice Award, American Film Institute Award, Television Critics Association Award,

Producers Guild Award The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard B. Stern, Leonard St ...

Stephen Schiff is an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, producer, and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He is best known for his work at ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' and '' Vanity Fair'', his screenplays for ''

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...

'', ''

True Crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...

'', and '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'', and his work as a writer and producer on the FX television series ''

The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American historical drama, period spy fiction, spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg for FX (TV channel), FX. It aired for six seasons from 2013 to 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also served as showrunners ...

''.

Early life

Schiff grew up in

Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Stati ...

. He graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

Career

Schiff began his writing career at ''

The Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the now defunct ''Boston Phoenix'', '' ...

'', where he became the chief film critic and film editor (succeeding David Denby), and hired and trained such critics as

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

and David Edelstein. In 1983, he was a finalist for the

in Criticism. 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 ''

'', specializing in cultural profiles, many of which appeared under his rubric, "Cultural Pursuits." His subjects included

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

, V. S. Naipaul,

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

, Muriel Spark, and Edward Gorey. From 1987 until 1996, Schiff was also the Film Critic of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's '' Fresh Air''. He served three terms as chairman of the National Society of Film Critics, 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 Meredith Louise Vieira (born December 30, 1953) is an American broadcast journalist and Celebrity, television personality. She is best known as the original moderator of the daytime talk show ''The View (talk show), The View'' (1997–2006), the ...

.{{Citation needed , date=April 2021 In 1995, Schiff was asked to write a screenplay adaptation of

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

's novel ''

'', 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. In her ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' review, critic Caryn James called "Stephen Schiff's discerning, faithful screenplay ..sensitive to Nabokov's wit as well as his lyricism." Schiff became a full-time screenwriter, leaving ''

'' in 2003. His subsequent films include '' The Deep End of the Ocean'' (1999), starring Michelle Pfeiffer; ''

'' (1999), directed by and starring

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

; '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'' (2010),

's sequel to the 1987 film ''

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

''; and '' American Assassin'' (2017). In 2013, Schiff became a writer and Consulting Producer of the FX television series ''

'', 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. 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. For his work on ''

'', Schiff won a

, the

, two

, the Critics Choice Award the Television Critics Association Award, the American Film Institute Award (for "Contribution to America's Cultural Legacy"), and the

. He also received two Prime Time

nominations and two additional

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

nominations. During Schiff's tenure with the show, ''

'' was nominated for 72 major awards, winning 23 of them. From 2011 to 2016, he was also the writer and Executive Producer of the extreme sports documentary series '' Ultimate Rush''. 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. Since 2005, he has served as chairman of the Board of the Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, which publishes ''

Parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is Reflection symmetry, mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different Mathematics, mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactl ...

'' magazine. He is a member of the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

(AMPAS), the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the Television in the United States, television industry in the United S ...

, the

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing the interests Television producer, television producers, Film producer, film producers and emerging media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership inclu ...

, and

PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...

. He contributed the critical essay on Nabokov's ''

'' to

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

's landmark scholarly compendium '' A New Literary History of America'', which was published in September, 2009. In December 2009,

Henry Holt and Company Henry Holt and Company is an American book-publishing company based in New York City. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt (publisher), Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt. The company publishes in ...

announced that it would publish Schiff's forthcoming biography of

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

. In November 2018, Schiff was hired by

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...

to serve as showrunner for '' Andor'' TV series. He stepped down from the position in February 2020, and in April 2020 Tony Gilroy replaced him as showrunner. Schiff remained involved with the series, writing the seventh episode ("Announcement") of the first season. Schiff was an Executive Producer and writer on the Showtime TV series '' Super Pumped''. The show debuted in February 2022.{{cite web , title='Super Pumped': Showtime Sets Premiere For Anthology Series From 'Billions' Co-Creators , url=https://deadline.com/2021/11/super-pumped-showtime-premiere-date-trailer-series-joseph-gordon-levitt-1234879912/ , first=Rosy , last=Cordero , work=

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

, date=November 23, 2021 , access-date=November 24, 2021 , archive-date=November 24, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124010218/https://deadline.com/2021/11/super-pumped-showtime-premiere-date-trailer-series-joseph-gordon-levitt-1234879912/ , url-status=live

Filmography

*''

'' (1997) *'' The Deep End of the Ocean'' (1999) *''

'' (1999) *'' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'' (2010) *'' Ultimate Rush'' (2011–2017) (episodes) *''

'': " A Little Night Music" (2014) *''

'': " Yousaf" (with Stuart Zicherman) (2014) *''

'': " Salang Pass" (2015) *''

'': " Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow" (2016) *''

'': " The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears" (2016) *''

'': "

Crossbreed A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

" (2017) *''

'': "

Darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, make Photographic printing, prints and carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light-sensitive photographic materials, including ...

" (2017) *'' American Assassin'' (2017) *'' Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber'': "War" (2022) *'' Andor'': " Announcement" (2022)

Bibliography

*{{Citation , author1=Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph , author2=Baughman, Judith , author3=le Carre, John , title=Conversations With John Le Carre (Literary Conversations Series) , year=2004 , publisher=

University Press of Mississippi The University Press of Mississippi (UPM), founded in 1970, is a university press that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi (i.e., Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Sta ...

, location= Mississippi , isbn=1-57806-669-7 , pages=93–106 *{{Citation , author1=Gorey, Edward , author2=Wilkin, Karen , title=Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey: Interviews , year=2001 , publisher= Harcourt , location=San Diego, California , isbn=0-15-100504-4 , page
136–157
, url=https://archive.org/details/ascendingpeculia00gore/page/136 *{{Citation , last=Huffhines , first=Kathy Schulz , title=Foreign affairs: the National Society of Film Critics' video guide to foreign films , year=1991 , publisher= Mercury House , location=San Francisco , isbn=1-56279-016-1 , url=https://archive.org/details/foreignaffairsna00huff *{{Citation , last=Jameson , first=Richard T. , title=They went thataway: redefining film genres: a National Society of Film Critics video guide , year=1994 , publisher=Mercury House , location=San Francisco , isbn=1-56279-055-2 , url=https://archive.org/details/theywentthataway00jame *{{Citation , last=Jussawalla , first=Feroza F. , title=Conversations with V. S. Naipaul , year=1997 , publisher=University Press of Mississippi , location=Mississippi , isbn=0-87805-946-6 , page
135–153
, url=https://archive.org/details/conversationswit0000unse_h8w4/page/135 *{{Citation , author=Keough, Peter; Society of Film Critics, National , title=Flesh and blood: the National Society of Film Critics on sex, violence, and censorship , year=1995 , publisher=Mercury House , location=San Francisco , isbn=1-56279-076-5 *{{Citation , last=Lupack , first=Barbara Tepa , title=Critical essays on Jerzy Kosinski , year=1998 , publisher=G.K. Hall , location=New York , isbn=0-7838-0073-8 , pages=221–235 *{{Citation , last=Rainer , first=Peter , title=Love and hisses: the National Society of Film Critics sound off on the hottest movie controversies , year=1992 , publisher=Mercury House , location=San Francisco , isbn=1-56279-031-5 *{{citation , last=Schiff , first=Stephen , title=Lolita: The Book of the Film , year=1998 , publisher= Applause Books , location=Milwaukee , isbn=1-55783-354-0 , page=226 *{{citation , first= Stephen, last= Schiff, title= Summer Films: Screen play -- Edith Wharton Gets the Treatment (3 Ways); Meeting Cute on a Far Planet: The Bibliodromist Knows Best, work=

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, date= April 30, 2000, access-date=13 August 2009 , url= https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/30/movies/summer-films-screen-play-edith-wharton-gets-treatment-3-ways-meeting-cute-far.html *{{Citation , author1=Spielberg, Steven , author2=Notbohm, Brent , author3=Friedman, Lester D. , title=Steven Spielberg: interviews , year=2000 , publisher=University Press of Mississippi , location=Mississippi , isbn=1-57806-113-X , page
170–192
, url=https://archive.org/details/stevenspielbergi00spie/page/170 *{{Citation , last=Sragow , first=Michael , author-link=Michael Sragow , title=Produced and abandoned: the best films you've never seen , year=1990 , publisher=Mercury House , location=San Francisco , isbn=0-916515-84-2 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/doingnothinghist00lutz *{{Citation , author1=Stoppard, Tom , author2=Delaney, Paul , title=Tom Stoppard in conversation , year=1994 , publisher=

University of Michigan Press The University of Michigan Press is a university press that is a part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earn ...

, location=Michigan , isbn=0-472-06561-0 , pages=212–224 *{{Citation , last=Thiroux , first=Emily , title=Cultures: diversity in reading and writing , year=1997 , publisher=

Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was a major American publishing#Textbook_publishing, educational publisher. It published print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market. It was an independent company throughout the bulk of the twentieth cen ...

, location=Upper Saddle River, NJ , isbn=0-13-400128-1 , url=https://archive.org/details/culturesdiversit00thir pp. 96–105

References

{{Reflist {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Schiff, Stephen American film critics American male screenwriters Wesleyan University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American male non-fiction writers Writers Guild of America Award winners