Stefan Schwartz Explained

Stefan Schwartz
Birth Date:1963 5, df=y
Birth Place:London, England
Citizenship:British
Canadian
Yearsactive:1992–present
Education:University of York
Children:3

Stefan Schwartz (born 1 May 1963) is an English and Canadian film and television director, writer and actor,[1] [2] most known for the feature film Shooting Fish[3] and his work on the BBC's Spooks and Luther, AMC's The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead as well as The Americans and The Boys.[4] He is also the creator of Talking Scripts [5] with business partner Idris Elba - An IOS app that reads Film and TV scripts using different voices for the characters.

Career

1992–2007

Stefan Schwartz directed his feature film debut Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992) starring Peter Capaldi and Phyllis Logan, which won two BAFTAs in Scotland and the London Film Festival's prestigious audience award.[6] Building on this success in 1995 he directed Giving Tongue, shown as part of BBC2′s Wicked Women series[7] and in 1997 wrote and directed Shooting Fish, a crime-caper comedy starring Kate Beckinsale which won several awards and made over 20M $ worldwide.[8]

He then signed a three-year deal to write and direct for Miramax and wrote screenplays for them, teaming up with notable producers such as Laurence Bender and Jennifer and Suzanne Todd[9] before directing The Abduction Club (2002) for Pathe Films.[10]

His next film as writer/director was the romantic comedy The Best Man starring Stuart Townsend, Amy Smart and Seth Green in 2005.[11]

2007–2015

In television, he directed Hustle, the award-winning Spooks and The Ghost Train for Lynda La Plante before moving on to the season finale of the ground-breaking series, Luther, for the BBC. In the US he has directed several episodes of the critically acclaimed Crash with Dennis Hopper, joined the Starz series Camelot, which he directed for and also co-executive produced, and directed for the much praised Dexter series.

After finishing Being Human for Syfy Stefan directed in the final season of House and worked in New York on White Collar. He then went back to Showtime for another episode of Dexter.

Autumn 2012 he worked in Paris with Jean Reno on the series Jo, before travelling to Atlanta to shoot The Walking Dead for which he won Online Film & Television Association - Television Award - Best Direction in a Drama Series for The Walking Dead.

Early 2013 he directed the mid-season finale of ABC's hit show Revenge, then went back to work on the final season of Dexter.

AMC then asked him back to direct Low Winters Sun in Detroit before heading back to New York to shoot the season opener of White Collar. From there to Pittsburgh to direct Chloe Sevigny and James D'Arcy in Those Who Kill, and then to South Africa to shoot the first episode of Black Sails for Starz, (second season).

In 2014 he started the year in New York on The Americans then worked with Diane Kruger on The Bridge. He won the OFTA Television Award for Best Direction in a Drama Series – The walking Dead.

Summer 2014 he completed an episode of the new Starz show called Flesh and Bone set in the world of ballet and written by Adam Rapp and Moira Walley-Beckett. Then Power.

2015–2018

In 2015 Stefan returned to Cape Town to shoot two new episodes of Black Sails directing some of the most complex action/vfx sequences on television at that time. In the same year, he also directed the season finale of Fear the Walking Dead season 1 in Los Angeles, before crossing the country to direct episode 4 of The Americans season 4 in New York. He finished out the year with the season finale of NOS4A2, and episodes of the Suites spin-off Pearson and Netflix’s Nightflyers.

2019-2023

Season 2 of The Boys and executive producer and pilot director of Fortunate Son, followed by episodes of Apples Suspicion and Executive producing The Mosquito Coast. He has just completed work on Amazons new show My Lady Jane.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleDirectorWriterNotes
1990The LakeShort film
1992Soft Top, Hard Shoulder
1996Giving TongueTelevision film
1997Shooting Fish
2002The Abduction Club
2005The Best Man
2020About Us

Television

As director

YearTitleNotes
2007Hustle2 episodes
Spooks2 episodes
2008-09Crash7 episodes
2009Trial & Retribution1 episode
2010Luther 2 episodes
2011Camelot3 episodes, also co-executive producer 5 episodes
2011-13Dexter 3 episodes
20122 episodes
House 1 episode
2012-13White Collar2 episodes
2013Jo 2 episodes, Miniseries
The Walking Dead 1 episode
Revenge 1 episode
Low Winter Sun 1 episode
2014Those Who Kill1 episode
The Bridge1 episode
2014-18The Americans4 episodes
2015Flesh and Bone1 episode, Miniseries
2015-16Black Sails3 episodes
2015-17Fear the Walking Dead6 episodes
2015-18Power3 episodes
2018Nightflyers1 episode
2019NOS4A21 episode
Pearson1 episode
2019-20The Boys2 episodes
2020Fortunate Son4 eps, pilot Director, Executive Producer 8 eps
2021Suspicion3 episodes
2021-22The Mosquito Coast 2 eps, Executive Producer 10 eps
2022-23My Lady Jane 3 episodes

As actor

YearTitleRoleNotes
1986Strong MedicinePeteTelevision film
1987Inspector MorseRichard Bartlett
1989The BillClive
Doctor WhoKnight Commander
1990Portrait of a MarriagePhillip
1990-91Screen TwoNicholas Hart, Tim2 episodes

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20160307041939/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/193506/Stefan-Schwartz The New York Times
  2. http://www.lovefilm.com/browse/contributor/91527/Stefan-Schwartz.htm Lovefilm.com
  3. http://www.indiewire.com/article/stefan_schwartz_and_dan_futterman_shoot_fish Indiewire.com
  4. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0777447/
  5. https://www.talkingscripts.com
  6. A, G. "Soft Top, Hard Shoulder". Time Out. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  7. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116419/
  8. Alexander Walker, Icons in the Fire: The Rise and Fall of Practically Everyone in the British Film Industry 1984-2000, Orion Books, 2005 p273
  9. Web site: Schwartz pacts with Miramax. 12 February 1999.
  10. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264333/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_29
  11. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430919/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_28