Renée Shafransky is an American writer, independent film producer and director, and psychotherapist. She is known for her collaborations with writer/actor/monologist

Spalding Gray Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – January 11, 2004) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and ...

, and as a founding member of the

Collective for Living Cinema The Collective for Living Cinema was an outpost of avant-garde cinema located on White Street in Lower Manhattan in the United States of America. It regularly presented work by filmmakers such as Ken Jacobs, Nick Zedd, Johan van der Keuken, Yvo ...

. Her novel ''Tips for Living'', was published in 2018.

Career

After studying under avant-garde filmmaker

Ken Jacobs Ken Jacobs (born May 25, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American experimental filmmaker. His style often involves the use of found footage which he edits and manipulates. He has also directed films using his own footage. Ken Jacobs directed ...

, Shafransky became a founding member and program director of the

, a premiere venue for

avant-garde film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

. She also edited the scholarly film journal, ''No Rose'', in the late 1970s. Shafransky met and started dating

in 1979. She became his collaborator and director, and figured prominently in many of his monologues. In 1983, Shafransky produced ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', directed by

Bette Gordon Bette Gordon (born June 22, 1950) is an Americans, American filmmaker and professor at Columbia University School of the Arts. She is best known for her films ''Variety (1983 film), Variety'' (1983) and ''Handsome Harry'' (2009) both of which rece ...

and written by Kathy Acker, which was selected for the Director's Fortnight at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. She also wrote articles and film reviews for

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

. In 1986,

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...

directed a film of Gray's acclaimed monologue,

Swimming to Cambodia ''Swimming to Cambodia'', also known as ''Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia'', is a 1987 American concert film written by and starring Spalding Gray, and directed by Jonathan Demme. The performance film is of Gray's play and monologue, which c ...

, which Shafransky produced. Shafransky and Gray co-wrote a sitcom called ''Bedtime Story'', which aired on PBS in 1987. Shafransky continued collaborating with Gray, co-writing projects and directing his monologues, including

Monster in a Box ''Monster in a Box'' is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield. A follow-up to Gray's earlier work, '' Swimming to Cambodia ...

in 1990. Shafransky collaborated with Bette Gordon again, writing the segment "Greed: Pay to Play," for the 1986 film ''Seven Women, Seven Sins'', in which seven internationally acclaimed women directors re-interpret the seven deadly sins. She went on to direct ''Three Hotels'', by award-winning playwright

Jon Robin Baitz Jon Robin Baitz (born November 4, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and television producer. He is a two time Pulitzer Prize finalist, as well as a Guggenheim Museum, Guggenheim, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and NEA fellowshi ...

, at the Magic Theater in San Francisco 1994. Shafransky then spent time in Hollywood, writing screenplays for major studios and HBO, and working with directors

Harold Ramis Harold Allen Ramis (; November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, comedian, director and writer. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984) and '' Ghostbusters II'' (1989), and as Russel ...

and Mike Newell. Shafransky now practices as a psychotherapist in New York City and Sag Harbor, and has contributed to The Southampton Review.

Filmography

* ''

'' (1983) Producer * ''Seven Women, Seven Sins'' (1986) Writer * ''

'' (1987) Producer and Director of original stage production * ''Bedtime Story'' (1987) Writer * ''

'' (1992) Producer and Director of original stage production * ''

Gray's Anatomy ''Gray's Anatomy'' is a reference book of human anatomy written by Henry Gray, illustrated by Henry Vandyke Carter, and first published in London in 1858. It has gone through multiple revised editions and the current edition, the 42nd (Octob ...

'' (1996) Co-Writer and Director of original stage production

References

External links

Renée Shafransky's official website

Renée Shafransky on IMDB

Renée Shafransky on IBDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafransky, Renée Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American psychotherapists American women film directors American women film producers American women screenwriters 21st-century American women