Thomas H. Schulman (born October 20, 1950) is an American screenwriter best known for his semi-autobiographical screenplay Dead Poets Society, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989.
Life and career Following high school at Montgomery Bell Academy, Schulman earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in philosophy, graduating in 1972 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Schulman pursued his interest in film at the University of Southern California's Graduate School of Cinema.
Dead Poets Society won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1989, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director (Peter Weir). The character of John Keating was inspired by one of Schulman's teachers at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville.
Prior to Dead 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 movie Honey, 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.
Other scripts written or co-written by Schulman include comedies Welcome to Mooseport, What About Bob?, Second Sight (which Schulman sold the same day as Dead Poets Society) and Holy Man, which stars Eddie Murphy. The Sean Connery drama Medicine Man, originally entitled The Stand, proved a critical failure. Schulman executive produced the movie Indecent Proposal.
Schulman's directorial debut was the 1997 black comedy 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, which stars Joe Pesci as a gangster attempting to transport a bag of severed heads across the United States. In 2022, Schulman returned to directing with Double 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 the Writers Guild of America, West.Writers Guild of America, September 18, 2009, Writers Guild of America, West Announces Final Results of 2009 Officers and Board of Directors Election He was a member of the WGA negotiating committee during the extended writers' strike of 2023.
Filmography Year Film Credit Notes1976Joy Ride: An Auto TheftWritten by, assistant directorShort film, co-wrote with Bill Crain1986The GladiatorStory by, executive producerCo-wrote story with Jeffrey Walker and William Bleich1988A Father's RevengeStory byCo-wrote story with Mel Frohman1989Dead Poets SocietyWritten byHoney, I Shrunk the KidsScreenplay byCo-wrote screenplay with Ed NahaSecond SightWritten byCo-wrote with Patricia Resnick1991What About Bob?Screenplay by1992Medicine ManScreenplay by, story byCo-wrote screenplay with Sally Robinson1993Indecent ProposalExecutive producer19978 Heads in a Duffel BagDirector, written by1998Holy ManWritten by1999GeniusExecutive producer2000Me, Myself & IreneExecutive producer2004Welcome to MooseportScreenplay by, producer2019My Dad, StephanieConsulting producer2022Double Down SouthDirector, Written by, Producer
References
External links Dead Poets Society's Tom Schulman on the Art of Surviving Hollywood, March 15, 2004 Tom Schulman Biography (1951–)