James Schamus

Former Film Executive

James Schamus is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, producer, and film executive. His long collaboration as writer and producer for Ang Lee has resulted in eleven films, including Brokeback Mountain; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Ice Storm; The Wedding Banquet; The Hulk; Taking Woodstock, and Lust, Caution. As CEO of Focus Features, Schamus oversees the finance, production, and distribution of numerous films, including Oscar winners Milk, The Pianist, Lost in Translation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Schamus has also produced or executive-produced many of the most important American independent films of the past decade (among them Safe and The Brothers McMullen), including four Grand Prize winners at the Sundance Film Festival. He is also a widely published film historian and theorist. - Columbia