James Schamus

Short Biography

James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American award-winning screenwriter, co-founder of Good Machine production company, and the CEO of Focus Features, the motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company, until its merging with FilmDistrict. His output includes as screenwriter The Ice Storm, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (all directed by Ang Lee), and as producer Brokeback Mountain, and the upcoming Alone in Berlin. At Focus he oversaw the production and distribution of Lost in Translation, Milk, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Coraline, The Kids Are All Right. He is Professor of Professional Practice in Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory. 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 University of California, Berkeley. He is making his feature directorial debut on Indignation, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel of the same name. Schamus also wrote the film, which stars Logan Lerman and Sarah Gadon.