Marshall Herskovitz

Marshall Herskovitz

Herskovitz at George Mason University, 2008
Born Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz
February 23, 1952 (1952-02-23) (age 64)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Spouse(s)

Susan Amanda Shilladay (m.1981; div.1993)[1]

Landry Major (m.2015)

Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz (born February 23, 1952)[1] is an American film director, writer and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and I Am Sam. Herskovitz has directed two feature films, Jack the Bear and Dangerous Beauty. Herskovitz was a creator and executive producer of the television shows thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, and Once and Again, and also wrote and directed several episodes of all three series.

Life and career

Herskovitz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Jewish family,[2] the son of Frieda (née Schreiber) and Alexander Herskovitz.[1] Herskovitz attended Brandeis University, graduating in 1973. He entered the AFI Conservatory in 1975, where he and Edward Zwick first met. He frequently collaborates with Zwick, with whom he runs the film and television production company The Bedford Falls Company, named for the fictional town in the classic film It's a Wonderful Life. Their most recent project is the 2010 film Love & Other Drugs. In 2007 Herskovitz ventured into the world of broadband production with the original series Quarterlife, which debuted on MySpace and a dedicated social network also called "quarterlife". It garnered enough views to be picked up by NBC and aired in 2008, but was quickly canceled.

Since May 2005, he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. Herskovitz was featured in The Dialogue interview series. In this 90-minute interview with journalist Jay A. Fernandez, he delves into the mediocrity of the industry, the voices that writers hear in their heads and why it's best to write first and ask questions later.

Herskovitz served as president of the Producers Guild of America from 2006–2010.

He was married to screenwriter Susan Shilliday from 1981–1993. They have two daughters.

Herskovitz married photographer Landry Major in 2015.

Herskovitz has long been "one of the film industry's most active and passionate environmentalists."[3] He serves on the advisory board of The Climate Mobilization, a grassroots advocacy group calling for a national economic mobilization against climate change on the scale of the home front during World War II, with the goal of 100% clean energy and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.[4]

Awards

Thirtysomething won numerous Emmy Awards including Outstanding Drama series in 1988. That year it also won Outstanding Writing in a Drama series for an episode that Herskovitz co-wrote with Paul Haggis. The show also received the Best Drama Series award at the Golden Globes that year. Herskovitz himself was honored by both the Writers Guild and Directors Guild for his work on the series.

Traffic was nominated for Best Picture at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001.

Once and Again was nominated for Best Drama Series of 1999 at the Golden Globes.

Filmography

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Marshall Herskovitz Biography (1952–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
  2. ↑ Shandler, Jeffrey (March 20, 2009). "Television in the United States". Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  3. ↑ Waghorn, Terry (21 November 2011). "Marshall Herskovitz: World War II the Key to America's Energy Future". Forbes.
  4. ↑ "Advisory Board". The Climate Mobilization. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
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