Biography: New York native Richard Schenkman is an experienced writer/producer/director who began his professional career creating distinctive and award-winning promos, network ID's, and documentary programs for MTV: Music Television. After five years there, he opened his own production company, RSVP, producing and directing music videos, fashion videos, commercials and promos for such clients as Swatch Wat ... show all New York native Richard Schenkman is an experienced writer/producer/director who began his professional career creating distinctive and award-winning promos, network ID's, and documentary programs for MTV: Music Television. After five years there, he opened his own production company, RSVP, producing and directing music videos, fashion videos, commercials and promos for such clients as Swatch Watch, MTV, Honda Scooters, Pepsi Cola, Showtime, Lifetime, and perhaps most notably his Clio-winning commercials for the children's cable TV network, Nickelodeon. During this period he also worked as a segment producer/director on Don Ohlmeyer's NBC news magazine Fast Copy; produced and directed the live multi-camera SPIN New Music Concert; and created openings and segments for such other series and specials as Fashion America, Showtime's Funniest Person in America, The MTV Video Music Awards, and The Rolling Stone Reader's Poll Awards. He made the short film Overnight Success, which premiered in the prestigious American Film Institute LA Film Festival, and won several awards. It also played nationally on The Movie Channel, Showtime, and A&E. Over the next three years, he worked in television in Los Angeles, creating over thirty hours of original programming for cable, home-video, and international syndication, including The Club, an original comedy series he co-wrote, produced, and directed. He also wrote and directed many other short- and long-form comedic and dramatic programs, several documentaries, two pilots, and Late Night, an internationally syndicated magazine-format lifestyle series that was rated #1 in Italy and Germany. He wrote his first feature film, The Pompatus of Love, with Jon Cryer and Adam Oliensis. It premiered at the Hamptons Film Fest, and was released theatrically soon after. He directed the action/drama October 22 for Millennium Films, and followed that with Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five, his second feature with co-writer Jon Cryer. It won numerous awards on the festival circuit, was theatrically released, and acquired by Blockbuster as an exclusive rental title. Later, he and Cryer set up the sitcom pilot "Us and Them" at 20th Century Fox Television, and a romantic comedy at VH1. Schenkman wrote the pilot for an original animated Elvis series for that network as well, and continued making commercials and promos, most notably the award winning Mill Valley Film Festival trailer. He also directed episodes of Dick Wolf's Arrest and Trial. In 2000, he wrote and directed VH1's original movie A Diva's Christmas Carol, which was a holiday ratings blockbuster. Weeks later, his daughter was born, and he decided to take a break from filmmaking to concentrate on raising her. He did, however, teach a Master Class for the Rhode Island Int'l Film Festival, on whose advisory board he serves, and created "Drama Queen", an NBC sitcom for Vanessa Williams. He also completed several new screenplays with Jon Cryer including the political action-thriller "Cosmodrome", and the heist comedy "LostBoyz". He has shot two features in the last twelve months: Jerome Bixby's "The Man From Earth", and "Somebody Like You", a romantic-dramedy starring Vanessa Williams and Eartha Kitt. Both films are currently in post-production. hide |
