Biography

Winner of NBC Screenwriter's Tribute from Nantucket Film Festival, in Mass., June, 2002

Was an exchange student in Trondheim, Norway.

Currently Associate Professor at Columbia University, New York, New York.

Has the distinction as a producer for three films, all with gay theme/content, which have received Oscar nominations for Best Picture: Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Milk (2008) and Brokeback Mountain (2005).

Partner in Good Machine, an indie-film company, with friends Ted Hope and David Linde. Bought by Universal Pictures and merged into a new division of the studio called Focus, June 2002.

I make as many bad movies as a big studio. But when they make a bad movie they spend forty to sixty million telling everyone about it. When I make a bad one, it gets a round of applause at a film festival.

[on if being busy affects the quality of his work] - It sure can, sometimes. For me, most of the work is done taking walks, or looking out the window, or sitting on the subway. Before I put finger to keyboard, you have to have that reverie and freedom. If you're too crowded, if there's too much stress, too much going on, it can have a negative impact. On the other had, there's truth to that phrase, if you want something done, ask the busiest person you know. When you get in a groove, it's actually incredibly fun to be able to literally swivel the chair around and just go, "Wow, it's happening, I can feel it!" But in general, I try to hide.

[on how he writes] - Basically, wherever, whenever and however. I can write by getting up early or staying up late or going to the country and taking a day off. "Lust, Caution" I wrote literally between meetings at Cannes.

[on dealing with failure at Focus Features] - ... We have our post-mortems, (but) I think it's often a big mistake to have them (quickly). I'd rather wait through the video release. Then people have real perspectives. Everyone at the company is invited and we talk about the challenges, how they were met, how they were not met, and what you learned. People are extremely honest, and everyone is listened to. It's part of the culture of the company. We really want to learn from each other and learn from our mistakes. But one of my mottoes is, "Don't learn too much from your mistakes in this business."

... where I sit, and where Focus sits, is in a very different place, taking artists like Gus Van Sant, who will never lose their independent streak, but when they're making a movie here are speaking a cinematic language that can be understood by an audience that will be interested. It doesn't have to be a mass audience. The line I use is, "The only way you know it's a Focus movie is if the vast majority of humanity is going to hate it!"