Cast & creator
James Schamus
Best known for The Boroughs, The Boroughs, Brokeback Mountain
James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989. Schamus was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Jewish family.He is the son of Clarita (Gershowitz) Karlin and Julian John Schamus and was raised in Los Angeles. He is married to writer Nancy Kricorian, with whom he has two children. His output includes writing or co-writing The Ice Storm, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hulk (all directed by Ang Lee) and producing Brokeback Mountain and Alone in Berlin. At Focus he oversaw the production and distribution of Lost in Translation, Milk, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Coraline, and The Kids Are All Right. In addition to his tenure at Columbia University, 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 the University of California, Berkeley. Schamus made his feature directorial debut with Indignation, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel of the same name. Schamus also wrote the script for the film, which stars Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, and Tracy Letts, and is the story of a Jewish student at an Ohio college in 1951. The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Roadside Attractions on July 29, 2016. He was president of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. He has also been on the jury of the New York International Children's Film Festival and has served on the editorial boards of Film Quarterly and Cinema Journal, as well as on the board of Creative Capital and the Heyman Centre for the Humanities. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stephen Rosenbaum, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
91
film credits
5
television credits
15
1991–2026 · acting roles
6.6
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (96)
Showing 96 of 96 credits
The Boroughs
Writer
2026The Boroughs
Consulting Producer
2026
Brokeback Mountain
Producer
2005
Hulk
Producer
2003Hulk
Story
2003Hulk
Screenplay
2003
Sense and Sensibility
Co-Producer
1995
Lust, Caution
Screenplay
2007Lust, Caution
Executive Producer
2007
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Screenplay
2000Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Executive Producer
2000Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Lyricist
2000
The Ice Storm
Producer
1997The Ice Storm
Screenplay
1997
The King's Daughter
Screenplay
2022
Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms
Script Consultant
2023
Ride with the Devil
Screenplay
1999Ride with the Devil
Producer
1999
The Assistant
Producer
2020
Somos.
Executive Producer
2021Somos.
Writer
2021Somos.
Creator
2021
Taking Woodstock
Screenplay
2009Taking Woodstock
Producer
2009
Suffragette
Executive Producer
2015
Son-in-Law
Producer
2026Son-in-Law
Writer
2026
Eat Drink Man Woman
Screenplay
1994Eat Drink Man Woman
Associate Producer
1994
She's the One
Producer
1996
Happiness
Executive Producer
1998
Alone in Berlin
Producer
2016
We Grown Now
Executive Producer
2024
Attack of the Hollywood Clichés!
Self - Screenwriter
2021
Buffalo Soldiers
Executive Producer
2002
The Wedding Banquet
Screenplay
2025The Wedding Banquet
Producer
2025The Wedding Banquet
Original Film Writer
2025
Auto Focus
Executive Producer
2002
Safe
Executive Producer
1995
Poison
Executive Producer
1991
Office Killer
Executive Producer
1997
The Wedding Banquet
Producer
1993The Wedding Banquet
Writer
1993
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema
Self
2006
These Amazing Shadows
Self
2011
Furlough
Executive Producer
2018
The Tomorrow Man
Producer
2019
Tortilla Soup
Original Film Writer
2001
The Myth of Fingerprints
Executive Producer
1997
Indignation
Screenplay
2016Indignation
Director
2016Indignation
Producer
2016
In the Soup
Associate Producer
1992
Pushing Hands
Writer
1991Pushing Hands
Executive Producer
1991
Driveways
Producer
2020
What Happened Was...
Executive Producer
1994
Surviving Desire
Associate Producer
1992
30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing
Director
2019The Making of 'Hulk'
Self
2003Misfire: The Rise and Fall of the Shooting Gallery
Self
2013
The Brothers McMullen
Executive Producer
1995
Walking and Talking
Producer
1996A Very Quiet Man
Self
2009A Sense of Character
Self
2009
Junction 48
Executive Producer
2016The Spacesuit
Producer
Keep It for Yourself
1991The Incredible Ang Lee
Self
2003
Lola and Billy the Kid
Executive Producer
1999
Adam
Producer
2019
Dayveon
Executive Producer
2017
Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier
Executive Producer
1991
Casting JonBenet
Producer
2017Evolution of the Hulk
Self
2003
Arresting Gena
Executive Producer
1997
I Was on Mars
Line Producer
1991
MOTV (My Own TV)
Coordinating Producer
1993
A Feast for the Eyes: Ang Lee in Taipei
Self
2002
Lost Forever: The Art of Film Preservation
Himself
2011
Thank You and Good Night
Producer
1992
McVeigh
Executive Producer
2024
Roy Cohn/Jack Smith
Producer
1995
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: A Retrospective
2016
Frames
Narrator (voice)
2019Frames
Director
2019
That Film About Money
2014That Film About Money
Producer
2014That Film About Money
Writer
2014That Film About Money
Director
2014Fatale
Producer
Love God
Executive Producer
1999
Ambition
Producer
1992A Psychic Mom
Coordinating Producer
1993
Wonderland
Executive Producer
1997