Curated playlist
New York University Tisch School of the Arts alumni
- Derek ConnollyDerek Connolly wrote a Star Wars film that was never made. His draft became The Rise of Skywalker.
- Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese's love of movies began because asthma kept him out of games.
- Woody AllenWoody Allen failed a film production course at New York University, then went on to direct Annie Hall.
- Adam SandlerAdam Sandler once made a Western comedy that critics almost universally panned. On the 6th of January 2016, Netflix announced that the film, The Ridiculous 6, had been watched more times in thirty days than any other movie in the service's…
- Kristen BellKristen Bell's first audition came in 1992, for a suburban Detroit production of Raggedy Ann and Andy. She won two parts at once: a banana and a tree. Nobody could have guessed from that start where she would end up. Bell became an…
- Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman was an American actor whose career the director Joel Schumacher summed up in 2000 with bad news and good news. Schumacher put it this way: "The bad news is that Philip won't be a $25-million star. The good news is…
- Mark RonsonMark Ronson was twelve years old when he pestered Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone, until the magazine gave him an internship. By his own description he was a music nerd, and the persistence paid off. Decades later he had won ten…
- James FrancoFor five weeks, James Franco spent twelve hours a day in a gully built as a film set, and he left it only to use the lavatory. Between takes he read books, including academic textbooks, just to keep busy. The American actor and filmmaker…
- Elizabeth OlsenElizabeth Olsen is an American actress who once considered dropping her surname. Her middle name, Chase, was the alternative she had in mind. The reason was simple. Her older sisters, the twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, were already…
- Damon LindelofBefore writing professionally, Lost creator Damon Lindelof read other people's screenplays for film studios.
- Aubrey PlazaAubrey Plaza once ran onto the stage of the MTV Movie Awards and grabbed Will Ferrell's award for Comedic Genius. The year was 2013. She held a drink in one hand. The title of her new film, The To Do List, was written across her chest. The…
- Donald GloverDonald Glover was voted most likely to write for The Simpsons. At 23 he landed a writing job on 30 Rock instead.
- Charlie KaufmanEvery company rejected Charlie Kaufman's script for Being John Malkovich. Spike Jonze later agreed to direct it.
- Rodney AlcalaRodney Alcala walked onto the set of the television game show The Dating Game in 1978, and host Jim Lange introduced him as a successful photographer. Lange promised that between takes he might be found skydiving or motorcycling. The…
- Idina MenzelIn 1992, a young singer named Idina Menzel recorded a demo of a song called "In Your Eyes" and was paid $75 for the job. The song went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, sung by the Irish performer Niamh Kavanagh. That story…
- Colin TrevorrowA strange 1997 magazine ad seeking a time-travel partner became Colin Trevorrow's breakout film.
- Leslye HeadlandLeslye Headland once served as Harvey Weinstein's personal assistant. She later turned that job into a play, Assistance.
- Michael ArndtMichael Arndt wrote the first draft of Little Miss Sunshine in three days in May 2000. That is a very short span for a screenplay that would later change his career. Arndt is an American screenwriter. His name now sits beside Pixar…
- Pedro PascalPedro Pascal was nine months old when his family fled Chile, after six months of sheltering inside the Venezuelan embassy in Santiago. Both of his parents had been listed as enemies of the state by the regime of General Augusto Pinochet.…