Edward Frank "Teddy" Schwarzman (born May 29, 1979) is an American film producer and former corporate lawyer. He is the founder, president and chief executive of
Black Bear Pictures
Black Bear Pictures is a media company that develops, produces and finances original content for film and television. Black Bear is based in Santa Monica, California.
Since its 2011 launch, Black Bear's slate has grossed over $300,000,000 worldw ...
, whose productions include the 2014 film ''
The Imitation Game
''The Imitation Game'' is a 2014 American historical drama film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore, based on the 1983 biography '' Alan Turing: The Enigma'' by Andrew Hodges. The film's title quotes the name of the game c ...
''.
Early life and education
Teddy Schwarzman was born in 1979 in New York City, to
Stephen A. Schwarzman, a co-founder, chairman and CEO of
The Blackstone Group
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...
, and Ellen Katz (née Philips), a trustee of
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
and the
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Mount Sinai Hospital, formerly at times known as Mount Sinai Medical Center, is a 319-bed major urban hospital in Chicago, Illinois, with its main campus located adjacent to Douglass Park at 15th Street and California Avenue on the city's West Si ...
and his sister is writer and podcaster
Zibby Owens. His family is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. He graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
with a degree in English before completing a
J.D. degree from the
Duke University School of Law
Duke University School of Law (Duke Law School or Duke Law) is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit th ...
.
Career
Schwarzman was a
corporate lawyer
A corporate lawyer or corporate counsel is a type of lawyer who specializes in corporate law. Corporate lawyers working inside and for corporations are called in-house counsel.
Roles and responsibilities
The role of a corporate lawyer is to ...
at
Skadden
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1948, the firm consistently ranks among the top U.S. law firms by revenue. The company is known for its wor ...
, a New York-based firm, where he specialized in real estate and corporate restructuring.
He left Skadden to work in the film industry; his first job was as a personal assistant on ''
The Other Woman'', which was produced in 2009 and released in 2010. He later said of the experience: "It was one of those situations that you had to prove that you actually want to be in this business."
He went on to work for
John Sloss
John Sloss (born 1956) is an entertainment lawyer, film sales agent, and manager, who has produced or executive produced over 50 films including the Academy Award-winning '' The Fog of War'', '' Boys Don't Cry'' and '' Boyhood''. Other credits ...
's film advisory company,
Cinetic Media
Cinetic Media is an American film financing and film distribution company that specializes in releasing independent films theatrically and through video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to acce ...
, where he was involved in raising funds to produce the 2011 films ''
Bernie'' and ''
The Loneliest Planet''.
Schwarzman left Cinetic in 2011 to found his own production company,
Black Bear Pictures
Black Bear Pictures is a media company that develops, produces and finances original content for film and television. Black Bear is based in Santa Monica, California.
Since its 2011 launch, Black Bear's slate has grossed over $300,000,000 worldw ...
, of which he is the president and CEO. There, the first film he produced was ''
At Any Price'' (2012), followed by the 2013 films ''
Broken City
''Broken City'' is a 2013 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Allen Hughes and written by Brian Tucker. Mark Wahlberg stars as a police officer turned private investigator and Russell Crowe as the mayor of New York City who hires ...
'', ''
A.C.O.D.
''A.C.O.D.'' is a 2013 American comedy film directed by Stu Zicherman, based on a script by Zicherman and Ben Karlin, and starring Adam Scott (actor), Adam Scott, Amy Poehler, Jessica Alba and Jane Lynch. The title of the film is an abbreviation ...
'' and ''
All Is Lost''. His fifth and most successful film was ''
The Imitation Game
''The Imitation Game'' is a 2014 American historical drama film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Graham Moore, based on the 1983 biography '' Alan Turing: The Enigma'' by Andrew Hodges. The film's title quotes the name of the game c ...
'', a 2014
biopic
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...
about
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
, which he produced alongside
Nora Grossman and
Ido Ostrowsky. Schwarzman bought
Graham Moore's screenplay when
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
sold it in 2012, competing with 30 other producers who wanted to acquire the script.
''The Imitation Game'' received many accolades, including
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
and
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...
nominations for Best Picture and Best British Film, respectively. Schwarzman, Grossman and Ostrowsky were also nominated for a
Producers Guild of America Award
The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard Stern, in order to honor ...
.
Personal life
Schwarzman married Ellen Marie Zajac, a New York City lawyer whom he met at
Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
, in November 2007 in
Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...
, Jamaica.
[ They have three children and live in Los Angeles, California.][
]
Filmography as producer
''He was producer for all films unless otherwise noted.''
Film
;Thanks
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarzman, Teddy
1979 births
Living people
Corporate lawyers
Duke University School of Law alumni
Film producers from New York (state)
Jewish American attorneys
Lawyers from New York City
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom people
University of Pennsylvania alumni
21st-century American Jews