Tom Schulman
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.
Tom Schulman
- Name
- Tom Schulman
- Birth Name
- Thomas H.
- Born
- 20 October 1950
- Birthplace
- Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
- Occupation
- Screenwriter, film director
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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.
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wikidata · Q942506 · wikipedia · Tom Schulman
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Tom Schulman • Birth Name — Thomas H. Schulman • Born — 20 October 1950 • Birthplace — Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. • Occupation — Screenwriter, film director
Life and career
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. He was a member of the WGA negotiating committee during the extended writers' strike of 2023.
Filmography
Filmography
• Year — Film — Credit — Notes • 1976 — Joy Ride: An Auto Theft — Written by, assistant director — Short film, co-wrote with Bill Crain • 1986 — The Gladiator — Story by, executive producer — Co-wrote story with Jeffrey Walker and William Bleich • 1988 — A Father's Revenge — Story by — Co-wrote story with Mel Frohman • 1989 — Dead Poets Society — Written by • Honey, I Shrunk the Kids — Screenplay by — Co-wrote screenplay with Ed Naha • Second Sight — Written by — Co-wrote with Patricia Resnick • 1991 — What About Bob? — Screenplay by • 1992 — Medicine Man — Screenplay by, story by — Co-wrote screenplay with Sally Robinson • 1993 — Indecent Proposal — Executive producer • 1997 — 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag — Director, written by • 1998 — Holy Man — Written by • 1999 — Genius — Executive producer • 2000 — Me, Myself & Irene — Executive producer • 2004 — Welcome to Mooseport — Screenplay by, producer • 2019 — My Dad, Stephanie — Consulting producer • 2022 — Double Down South — Director, Written by, Producer
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. It is also recorded that same time next week: true stories of working through mental illness / edited by Lee Gutkind; introduction by Peter D. Institutional cataloguing adds that mobile genetic elements: protocols and genomic applications / edited by Wolfgang J.
Collections and holdings
Where the work is held
Collections and holdings
Institutional holdings are recorded as follows.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Tom Schulman”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q942506: Tom Schulman
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Online Collections | Montgomery Bell Academy.
- 2.Montgomery Bell Academy - A Premier Independent School in Nashville, TN ~ MBA Speaker Series Videos.
- 3.15 Facts About Dead Poets Society. June 2019.
- 4.Dead Poets Society - Reviews.
- 5.Tom Schulman. Humanitas.
- 6.J. Easton, Nina. Cinergi OKs $2.5 Million for Script to 'The Stand'. The Los Angeles Times. August 10, 1990.
- 7.Dewis, GM. Dead Poets Society. Insight Publications. 6. 2011. 9781921411052.
- 8.McCurrie, Tom. Dead Poets Society's Tom Schulman on the Art of Surviving Hollywood. Writersupercenter.com. March 15, 2004.
- 9.Vagg, Stephen. Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation 1982-1997. Filmink. 11 September 2025.
- 10.Writers Guild of America, September 18, 2009, Writers Guild of America, West Announces Final Results of 2009 Officers and Board of Directors Election
- 11.Meet the Negotiating Committee: Tom Schulman. www.wgacontract2023.org.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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