James Schamus

James Allan Schimus (born September 7, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, film historian, professor, and business executive whose career has shaped contemporary independent cinema. Raised in a Jewish family and later moving to Los Angeles, Schimus earned a BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley before entering the film world. He co‑founded the influential production company Good Machine with Chris Smith, launching the careers of numerous auteurs and producing landmark films such as The Ice Storm and Eat Drink Man Woman. His partnership with director Ang Lee produced seminal works including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Hulk, and Lust, Caution, for which he received multiple screenplay nominations and a Golden Horse Award. As co‑founder and former CEO of Focus Features, Schimus oversaw the development and distribution of acclaimed titles like Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Milk, and The Kids Are All Right, cementing his reputation as a visionary studio executive.

In addition to his production achievements, Schimus has contributed scholarly work to film studies, authoring Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word and publishing numerous essays on cinema, culture, and industry politics. He teaches film history and theory at Columbia University, having served on faculties at Yale and Rutgers, and he presides over Symbolic Exchange, a New York‑based production company. Recognized for his advocacy of LGBTQ narratives, Outfest created the James Schamus Ally Award in his honor. Married to writer Nancy Kricorian, he is a father of two and remains active in film festivals, juries, and public discourse on the future of storytelling.