Stu Pollard (born January 26, 1967) is an American film producer, writer and director. His credits include ''

Nice Guys Sleep Alone ''Nice Guys Sleep Alone'' is a 1999 romantic comedy film written and directed by Stu Pollard. The film is based on a book of the same title, written by Bruce Feirstein. Synopsis A young man in Louisville sees his dating failures are related to hi ...

'' and ''Keep Your Distance'', as well as the 2019 survival thriller ''

Rust Creek ''Rust Creek'' is a 2018 American crime thriller film directed by Jen McGowan and written by Julie Lipson. It is based on an original story by Julie Lipson and Stu Pollard. Hermione Corfield stars as a college student who becomes lost while on a ...

''.

Early life and education

Pollard was born in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

and attended

Kentucky Country Day School Kentucky Country Day (KCD) is an independent co-educational college preparatory day school for junior kindergarten through 12th grade located in Louisville, Kentucky. It is located in northeastern Jefferson County on a large suburban campus. ...

. He graduated from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1989, then spent three years working for New York's

McCann-Erickson McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, expe ...

before moving to Los Angeles to earn his MFA from the

USC School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...

Career

After graduating from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, Pollard created ''Lunacy Unlimited'', a production company that created a number of award-winning commercials and documentaries before eventually shifting its focus to features. Pollard made his feature film debut in 1999, producing, writing and directing ''

'', starring

Sean O'Bryan Sean Michael O'Bryan (born September 10, 1963) is an American film and television actor from Louisville, Kentucky. He attended and graduated from St. Xavier High School. Career He co-starred with William Ragsdale on the series '' Brother' ...

and

Vanessa Marcil Vanessa Marcil ( ;) is an American actress. She is best known for her television roles as Brenda Barrett on ''General Hospital'', Gina Kincaid on ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', and Sam Marquez on ''Las Vegas (TV series), Las Vegas''. Early life Marc ...

. A

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

about the dating scene in Louisville, the

independent production Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

was broadcast in over a dozen countries and carried on cable television's

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

. The film became the first

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

exclusive, garnering press coverage from ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', and ''

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), ...

''. In 2005, Pollard delivered his second feature film. He produced, wrote, and directed ''Keep Your Distance'', starring

Gil Bellows Gil Bellows (born June 28, 1967) is a Canadians, Canadian actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for the roles of Tommy Williams in the 1994 movie ''The Shawshank Redemption'', Billy Thomas in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox televi ...

and

Jennifer Westfeldt Jennifer Westfeldt (born February 2, 1970) is an American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known for co-writing, co-producing, and starring in the 2002 indie film ''Kissing Jessica Stein'', for which she received an I ...

. The thriller depicts a seemingly perfect marriage, which slowly dissolves at the foot of betrayal. Pollard received a number of producing credits for independent films from 2006 through 2015, including ''

Ira & Abby ''Ira & Abby'' is a 2006 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Cary and released in the United States by Magnolia Pictures. The poignant love story stars Chris Messina and Jennifer Westfeldt (who also wrote the screenplay) in the title ...

'' and ''

Bass Ackwards ''Bass Ackwards'' is a film written, starring and directed by Linas Phillips and also starring Davie-Blue, Jim Fletcher and Paul Lazar. The film stars Phillips as a man who embarks on cross-country journey in a modified VW bus after ending a disas ...

''. In 2015, Pollard founded his production company in order to break free of the "one at a time" model of independent filmmaking and have multiple projects in development at a time. Lunacy has offices in Louisville, Kentucky, and Los Angeles, California, and focuses on supporting emerging filmmakers while also working on new materials with established talent. With Lunacy Productions, Pollard produced the critically acclaimed survival thriller ''

'', which won the Best Thriller Feature Award at the

San Diego International Film Festival The San Diego International Film Festival (SDIFF) is an independent film festival in San Diego, California produced by the non-profit San Diego Film Foundation. The main event has traditionally been held annually in the autumn at venues in the ...

. On November 30, 2020, Rust Creek had its Netflix debut. The film spent more than a week on Netflix's top ten movies list. His latest release is the romantic comedy '' Plus One'', starring

Jack Quaid Jack Henry Quaid (born April 24, 1992) is an American actor. He made his acting debut with a minor role in the dystopian film ''The Hunger Games'' (2012) before his breakout role as vigilante Hughie Campbell in the Amazon Prime Video superhero se ...

and

Maya Erskine Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

. Pollard is also an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and teaches at

Film Independent The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass ...

. He is a member of both the PGA and DGA.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Lunacy Unlimited website
1967 births Living people Georgetown University alumni Writers from Louisville, Kentucky USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni Film producers from Kentucky {{Louisville-stub