Robin Russin

Robin Russin is an American screenwriter, director, playwright, author and educator.

Education

Robin Uriel Russin was educated at Harvard, Oxford (which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship), the Rhode Island School of Design, and UCLA, where he received his MFA in screenwriting. Russin taught screenwriting at UCLA in their undergraduate and graduate film departments as well as their Professional Program from 1994 to 2002. He is currently Professor of Screenwriting and has served as Director of the MFA for Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts at UC Riverside.

Career

Russin has written and directed for film, theater, television and various national publications, including ''Scr(i)pt Magazine''. Additionally, he co-authored ''Screenplay: Writing the Picture'' and ''Naked Playwriting'' (both published by Silman-James Press). ''Screenplay: Writing the Picture'' was reviewed by Lew Hunter, co-chair of UCLA's screenwriting department, as the "best book about screenwriting and being a screenwriter ever written."

Among Russin's entertainment credits are the #1 box office feature ''On Deadly Ground'', the eco-thriller starring Steven Seagal and Michael Caine, and many of his other feature spec scripts have been either bought or put under option by both studio and independent producers.

Russin has been a producer on both independent and TV movies, and in television, he wrote, produced and directed numerous segments and specials for ''America's Most Wanted'', ''The New Detectives'', and ''The Prosecutors''. He was Senior Producer of the hour-long ABC primetime series, ''Vital Signs''. In 2015 he sold his original pilot and series bible about King David to ABC, which became the basis for the ABC 2016 prime time one-hour series, ''Of Kings and Prophets,'' for which Russin was consultant. In 2017 Russin directed the feature film, ''When I Sing'', about independent singer-songwriter Linda Chorney's journey to the Grammy Awards, and co-starring Chris Mulkey. ''When I Sing'' won the People's Choice Award at the 2018 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, and the Remi Special Jury Award for best low budget feature at the 2018 Worldfest Houston Film Festival, among many other awards. He also co-wrote the screenplay for ''2 Hearts'', a 2020 feature starring Jacob Elordi and Radha Mitchell, and directed by Lance Hool. In 2021 Robin directed the independent feature film ''The Anxiety of Laughing'' for Disability Media Network, from a script by his former MFA student Andrew Justvig, who has cerebral palsy. In spite of its low budget, it has been selected by more than a dozen international festivals, and won many top honors.

Among his plays is ''Painted Eggs'', which was reviewed by ''The Los Angeles Times'' as "ambitious, heart-felt and hypnotic," and ''Dramalogue'' called "a glorious treat and a wonderful lesson in love." He regularly writes and directs for the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, California, which premiered his play "The Face in the Reeds" in 2014, and which had a sold-out four month run. He also has directed numerous theatrical productions, including ''The Merchant of Venice'' at the Barbara and Art Culver Center for the Arts, and written extensively about the play in ''Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies'': "The Triumph of the Golden Fleece: Women, Money, Religion, and Power in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice". He also writes occasionally for the Jewish Women's Theater, a salon ensemble group, where he is also an artist-in-residence.

While at UCLA, Russin was Story Editor on the campus sitcom ''Good News, Bad News'', and was awarded two Jack Nicholson Awards for excellence in screenwriting. He also directed several short films, was twice a finalist in Chanticleer's "Discovery" program for new directors, and has won or been a finalist in the ScriptPIMP, Final Draft Big Break, TVWriter People's Pilot, The Movie Deal, Award Winning Screenwriters, Northwest Film Forum, and other competitions.

Personal life

Born and raised in Wyoming and Italy, Russin currently lives in Los Angeles. He also works as a sculptor, and has taught art, literature and art history. He is married to Sarah Russin, the Executive Director of LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). They have two children, Olivia and Benjamin Russin. Russin also has a second-degree blackbelt in kenpo-jujitsu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russin, Robin
Living people
American dramatists and playwrights
Screenwriting instructors
Harvard University alumni
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Rhode Island School of Design alumni
American Rhodes Scholars
University of California, Riverside faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)