Ivory Tower to Silver Screen
April 7, 2011 9:11 AM Subscribe
Who are some film directors, screenwriters, and TV showrunners who went to grad school in the humanities, or taught in humanities departments before going into show business?
I am particularly interested in people who did, or tried to do, a Ph.D in philosophy. So, for example, Terrence Malick went to Oxford and Errol Morris went to Berkeley (although I believe neither one finished). Anybody else?
I'm also interested in hearing about people with other backgrounds in the humanities. One who comes to mind is David Milch--although he's got an MFA (AKA art school, not humanities), he then taught English Lit at Yale.
What other academics, or would-be academics, started writing for the screen, directing, or created a show?
I am particularly interested in people who did, or tried to do, a Ph.D in philosophy. So, for example, Terrence Malick went to Oxford and Errol Morris went to Berkeley (although I believe neither one finished). Anybody else?
I'm also interested in hearing about people with other backgrounds in the humanities. One who comes to mind is David Milch--although he's got an MFA (AKA art school, not humanities), he then taught English Lit at Yale.
What other academics, or would-be academics, started writing for the screen, directing, or created a show?
David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood, Luck) has an interesting (but rather non-traditional) academic CV.
posted by caek at 9:20 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by caek at 9:20 AM on April 7, 2011
Terrence Malick studied philosophy at Harvard, went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scolar, and taught philosophy at MIT.
posted by davidjmcgee at 9:23 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by davidjmcgee at 9:23 AM on April 7, 2011
Duncan Jones started doing a PhD in Philosophy before switching to film school
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:26 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:26 AM on April 7, 2011
TV writer Eric Kaplan (Futurama, Malcolm in the Middle) did years of graduate work in philosophy, although I believe he never finished his dissertation. (Full disclosure: we went to high school togther and I know him a bit.)
posted by neroli at 9:26 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by neroli at 9:26 AM on April 7, 2011
Dolph Lundgren was not a humanities person, but it is worth noting that he has a master's in chemical engineering and he received a Fulbright scholarship to MIT.
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:32 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:32 AM on April 7, 2011
Charles Randolph was a professor of Philosophy in Vienna.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:37 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by Ideefixe at 9:37 AM on April 7, 2011
Merril Markoe has a masters in art, taught at USC and co-created Late Night with David Letterman.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:38 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:38 AM on April 7, 2011
Florian Henckel von Donnersmark has both an MA in Philosophy from Oxford and the coolest name ever.
Hopefully this makes up for my gross failure to RTFQ earlier.
posted by davidjmcgee at 10:11 AM on April 7, 2011
Hopefully this makes up for my gross failure to RTFQ earlier.
posted by davidjmcgee at 10:11 AM on April 7, 2011
Jeremy Leven
Hong Sangsoo
Herschell Gordon Lewis, father of the splatter film
And Bollywood, not Hollywood Arindam Chaudhari
posted by Ideefixe at 10:42 AM on April 7, 2011
Hong Sangsoo
Herschell Gordon Lewis, father of the splatter film
And Bollywood, not Hollywood Arindam Chaudhari
posted by Ideefixe at 10:42 AM on April 7, 2011
William Goldman was teaching at Yale when he sold Butch Cassidy for the highest-ever amount then fetched for a screenplay.
posted by meadowlark lime at 11:12 AM on April 7, 2011
posted by meadowlark lime at 11:12 AM on April 7, 2011
Joseph Kosinski has a Masters in architecture from Columbia.
posted by vorfeed at 12:35 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by vorfeed at 12:35 PM on April 7, 2011
Jane Espenson studied under George Lakoff at UC Berkeley.
posted by lesli212 at 5:21 PM on April 7, 2011
posted by lesli212 at 5:21 PM on April 7, 2011
Kathryn Bigelow did graduate work in film theory...
Lots and lots and lots of filmmakers have graduate degrees in film. A lot of what you learn in film school, especially at the graduate level, is theory.
I think this is an important distinction to make, as it seems the OP is looking for filmmakers who were specifically involved in academia within other non-film disciplines.
posted by Sara C. at 6:39 PM on April 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Lots and lots and lots of filmmakers have graduate degrees in film. A lot of what you learn in film school, especially at the graduate level, is theory.
I think this is an important distinction to make, as it seems the OP is looking for filmmakers who were specifically involved in academia within other non-film disciplines.
posted by Sara C. at 6:39 PM on April 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by neroli at 9:19 AM on April 7, 2011