Howard A. Rodman Explained

Howard A. Rodman
Known For:Savage Grace
August
Joe Gould's Secret
Destiny Express
The Great Eastern
Spouse:Anne Friedberg (m. 1990, died 2009)
Mary Beth Heffernan (m. 2017)

Howard A. Rodman is a screenwriter, author and professor. He is the former President of the Writers Guild of America, West, professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts,[1] alumnus of Telluride Association Summer Program[2] and an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs.[3]

He is the son of screenwriter Howard Rodman (1920–1985).

Career

In his 20s and early 30s, Rodman was a typist, a legal proofreader, a mail-room clerk, a union organizer (for the Committee of Interns and Residents) and the guitarist for various lower-Manhattan post-punk bands (Made in USA, Arsenal, Soul Sharks).[4] [5] Starting as editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun,[6] Rodman has published scores of articles in venues including The New York Times,[7] The Los Angeles Times,[8] Los Angeles Magazine,[9] and the Village Voice (for which he was a monthly columnist).[10]

His adaptations of Jim Thompson, David Goodis et al. for Showtime's Fallen Angels anthology series[11] were directed by Steven Soderbergh and Tom Cruise. The screenplays were published in .[12] Rodman then wrote Joe Gould's Secret, which opened the 2000 Sundance festival and was subsequently released by October/USA Films.[13] Rodman's original screenplay F. was selected by Premiere Magazine as one of Hollywood's Ten Best Unproduced Screenplays.[14] Other films include Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, and August, with Josh Hartnett, Rip Torn, and David Bowie—both of which had their US premieres at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.[15] They were released in 2008 from IFC and First Look, respectively. Rodman's screenplay for Savage Grace was nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best Screenplay category.[16]

Destiny Express

Destiny Express was published in January 1990 by Atheneum Books.[17] It was blurbed by Thomas Pynchon, who called it "Daringly imagined and darkly romantic — a moral thriller."[18] [19]

Destiny Express is an historical romance. Set in Berlin in March 1933, it explores the stark choices faced by the German filmmaking community – chief among them legendary director Fritz Lang (M; Metropolis), and his acclaimed wife and collaborator, Thea von Harbou. Lang was famously offered the position of head of the Reich's film industry by Joseph Goebbels, and fled on the next train to Paris; von Harbou stayed, and made films for the Nazis. Destiny Express is thus the story of the end of a marriage, set in one of history's most crucial junctures. Other historical figures – Bertolt Brecht, Billy Wilder among them – play significant roles in the novel's intertwined narratives.[20]

The Great Eastern

The novel The Great Eastern by Howard A. Rodman was published[21] on June 4, 2019, by Melville House Publishing. In 2020, actor Keegan-Michael Key was quoted in The New York Times as saying of the book, "It’s great. It’s been my favorite read of the year so far."[22]

In March 2019, the film rights to The Great Eastern were acquired by the UK film company Great Point Media, and Rodman was commissioned to write the screen adaptation.[23]

Reviews

Filmography

Other activities

Rodman is a Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[33] He founded and chairs the Writers Guild Independent Writers Caucus.[34] He has chaired FilmIndependent's Spirit Awards feature film jury[35] as well as the USC Scripter Awards.[36] He is the president of the USC chapter of the American Association of University Professors,[37] a Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities;[38] [39] a former trustee of the Writers Guild Foundation,[40] vice-chair of the Committee on the Professional Status of Writers;[41] and serves on several nonprofit boards, among them the Franco-American Cultural Fund,[42] and Cornell in Hollywood.[43] He is an alumnus of the Seed Fund Board of the Liberty Hill Foundation,[44] and a former editor of The Bill of Rights Journal.[45]

Rodman is also on Los Angeles committee of PEN America.[46] PEN International stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide.[47]

He is a member of the National Film Preservation Board, which advises Librarian of Congress on the annual selection of films to the National Film Registry. It also advises on national film preservation planning policy.[48]

Rodman is a member of The Quill and Dagger Society, founded at Cornell University in 1893.

Working with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles,[49] USC,[50] and the Writers Guild,[51] Rodman has conducted public conversations with such writers as Tom Wolfe,[52] Ricky Jay, Jeannette Seaver, Vince Gilligan, Geoff Dyer, and Lady Antonia Fraser.[53] [50]

In November 2019, he was a member of the jury[54] at the Cannes 1939 Film Festival in Orléans France.[55]

Howard Rodman also contributes to the Los Angeles Review of Books.[56] His latest articles include 'After Hours Capitalism: On Tom Lutz's "Born Slippy"'[57] a review of Tom Lutz’s "Born Slippy",[58] published by Repeater Books and 'On the 192nd Anniversary of the Birth of Jules Verne'.

Howard contributed to Black Clock literary magazine, published semi-annually by CalArts in association with its MFA Writing Program. Howard's work was published in issues 4,[59] 5,[59] 10,[59] 13,[60] 19,[61] 20,[62] 21.[61]

Howard contributed the afterword to 'No Room at the Morgue'[63] by Jean-Patrick Manchette, published in 2020 by New York Review Books.[63]

Honors and awards

On October 31, 2013, Rodman was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Republic.[64] In January 2023 he was promoted from Chevalier to Officier.

In February 2018 he was inducted into Final Draft (software)'s Screenwriters Hall of Fame,[65] alongside Robert Towne, Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Nancy Meyers, Paul Schrader, Lawrence Kasdan et al.

In February 2020 Rodman was presented with the USC Associates Award for Artistic Expression, "the highest honor the University bestows on its members for significant artistic impact," by USC Provost Charles Zukoski.[66]

Personal life

He was married to the writer and media scholar Anne Friedberg,[67] author of The Virtual Window.[68] until her death in 2009; they have one son, Tristan Rodman. Their house, the 1957 John Lautner "Zahn Residence," has been widely published. Their work with Lautner in restoring it was chronicled in the February 2002 issue of Dwell magazine.[69]

In June 2017, he wed the artist and professor Mary Beth Heffernan.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: USC Cinematic Arts | Directory of SCA Faculty. cinema.usc.edu. July 29, 2024.
  2. https://www.tellurideassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/77_2_1990_Feb.pdf
  3. Web site: Sundance Institute.
  4. Web site: USC Cinematic Arts Directory of SCA Faculty.
  5. News: Howard A. Rodman. Huffington Post .
  6. Web site: The Cornell Daily Sun. dead. https://archive.today/20130120030158/http://cornellsun.com/node/16695. 2013-01-20.
  7. News: The New York Times. Howard A. . Rodman. May 27, 1971.
  8. News: The Los Angeles Times. Howard A. . Rodman. October 17, 2007.
  9. Web site: Los Angeles Magazine. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140222031456/http://www.lamag.com/features/author/howard-a-rodman. 2014-02-22.
  10. Web site: Variety. July 29, 2024.
  11. Web site: Fallen Angels. IMDb.
  12. Book: Fallen Angels: Six Noir Tales Told for Television. . 1994 . Grove Press. 978-0802133830.
  13. Web site: Lyman . Rick . January 20, 2000 . Ferocious Buzz at Sundance, for Better or for Worse . August 2, 2024 . The New York Times.
  14. Web site: BAFTA Events Archive. May 22, 2014 .
  15. Web site: Sundance-ish: Howard Rodman: "'Fortunate' is the word, not 'lucky'". The Oregonian. Shawn. Levy. January 23, 2008. August 2, 2024.
  16. Web site: IMDb. Howard A. Rodman. August 2, 2024.
  17. Web site: ISBN 9780689120909 – Destiny Express.
  18. Web site: Pynchon recommends.... December 17, 2014.
  19. Web site: Thomas Pynchon Bibliography.
  20. Web site: Publishers Weekly. Destiny Express. August 2, 2024.
  21. Book: The Great Eastern » Melville House Books. June 4, 2019.
  22. Web site: The New York Times. Keegan-Michael Key Reaches into the Past With ‘Midnight Run’ and ‘Electric Ladyland’. Kwame. Opam. December 15, 2020. August 2, 2024.
  23. Howard A. Rodman's Book 'The Great Eastern' to Be Adapted Into Movie. Variety.
  24. Web site: Television Fallen Angels Parts I-III Showtime, Suns. July 1, 15, 29, 10 p.m. – Variety. August 2, 1993.
  25. Web site: 'Angels' leads series ascent at CableAce – Variety. November 3, 1993.
  26. Web site: "Fallen Angels" The Quiet Room (TV Episode 1993) – IMDb. IMDb.
  27. Web site: The Hunger: The Swords – Cast & Crew on MUBI.
  28. Web site: The Hunger: No Radio (1997) MUBI.
  29. Web site: Gould Is Noisy Subject of Thoughtful 'Secret' – Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. April 7, 2000.
  30. Web site: Track Down (2004) BFI. https://web.archive.org/web/20180309034254/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b816a667b. dead. March 9, 2018.
  31. Web site: AUGUST by Austin Chick @ Brooklyn Film Festival.
  32. Web site: Benign wealth but 'Savage' behavior – Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. June 13, 2008.
  33. Web site: Oscars: Elections Turn Film Academy Board Majority-Female for First Time Ever – The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter. June 21, 2021.
  34. Web site: WGAW The Independent Writers Caucus (IWC). dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121006045406/http://wga.org/subpage_writersresources.aspx?id=925. 2012-10-06.
  35. Web site: Movieweb. July 29, 2024.
  36. Web site: 25th Annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. July 29, 2024.
  37. Web site: Leadership. USC AAUP. July 29, 2024.
  38. Web site: LAIH Fellows, Howard A. Rodman. July 29, 2024.
  39. Web site: Academy Invites 134 to Membership. September 10, 2014.
  40. Web site: Staff and Board. The Writers Guild Foundation. July 29, 2024.
  41. News: The Hollywood Reporter, WGAW 2011 Elections. Jonathan . Handel. August 28, 2011.
  42. Web site: 16th Annual City of Lights City of Angels Film Festival.
  43. Web site: Cornell Alumni Magazine.
  44. Web site: Liberty Hill Foundation. July 29, 2024.
  45. Book: The Bill of Rights Journal N.E.C.L.C. 25th Anniversary December 1976. January 1976. Nat'l Emergency Civil Liber.
  46. Web site: Los Angeles Committee – PEN America. January 29, 2019.
  47. Web site: About Us – PEN America. September 20, 2016.
  48. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/NFPB_Members_1988-2019.pdf
  49. Web site: Dictionaries and the Bending of Language – Library Foundation of Los Angeles.
  50. Web site: USC Cinematic Arts Directory of SCA Faculty.
  51. Web site: Presidents.
  52. Web site: An Evening with Tom Wolfe Los Angeles Public Library.
  53. Web site: Must you Go? My Life with Harold Pinter Los Angeles Public Library.
  54. Web site: The Jury — Le festival international du film de Cannes 1939 à Orléans en 2019. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20190717170047/https://www.festivalcannes1939.com/the-jury. July 17, 2019.
  55. Web site: English — Le festival international du film de Cannes 1939 à Orléans en 2019. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20190717170037/https://www.festivalcannes1939.com/1st-cannes-film-festival-1939. July 17, 2019.
  56. Web site: Los Angeles Review of Books.
  57. Web site: After Hours Capitalism: On Tom Lutz's "Born Slippy". January 15, 2020.
  58. Web site: Born Slippy: A Novel – Repeater Books.
  59. Web site: Archived copy . 2020-08-04 . 2020-09-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200925075614/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/t/t1202.htm#BOT . dead .
  60. Web site: Archived copy . 2020-08-04 . 2020-09-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200925075608/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/t/t1203.htm#TOP . dead .
  61. Web site: Archived copy . 2020-08-04 . 2020-09-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200925075603/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/t/t1204.htm#TOP . dead .
  62. Web site: Black Clock 20 .
  63. Web site: No Room at the Morgue – New York Review Books. August 11, 2020.
  64. Web site: Global Showbiz Briefs: 'Broadchurch' Book; 'The Escape Artist' Sales; Bassem Youssef; Louis Delluc Shortlist; More – Deadline. October 30, 2013.
  65. News: Final Draft Awards to Honor 'The Post's' Liz Hannah and Former WGA West Chief Howard Rodman. Hollywood Reporter . Scoott. Feinberg. January 23, 2018.
  66. Web site: USC Associates Awards. 2020-11-13. USC Provost. en-US.
  67. News: Anne Friedberg dies at 57; professor at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. Los Angeles Times . Elaine. Woo. October 14, 2009.
  68. Web site: The MIT Press: The Virtual Window. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120921044639/http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10780. 2012-09-21.
  69. Book: Dwell. February 2002.