Scott Schneid

Scott Schneid was Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, arriving in Hollywood shortly receiving his bachelor's degree from Harvard University. Landing a job in the William Morris Agency's training program, he worked evenings and weekends to develop the screenplay for what became Tri-Star's infamous "Silent Night, Deadly Night." At 27 he received executive producer credit on the Yuletide horror picture, the film going on to spawn 4 sequels for LIVE Home Video.

Bitten by the creative bug, Scott formed a decade-long partnership with a former Morris trainee. Together they received writing credit on produced episodes of "Hardcastle & McCormack," "Rugrats," and "Friday The Thirteenth - The Series," the latter submitted for Emmy consideration by the producers. This was followed by the motion picture "Phantom Of The Mall," released theatrically in the U.S. by Fries Entertainment. He wrote the Rugrats episode Sour Pickles with Tony Michelman.

Development deals and close calls followed. An action/murder mystery of theirs was optioned by Baer Entertainment/Orion Pictures, the late FX genius Stan Winston and producer Gale Anne Hurd got into business with them on one of their horror specs, they partnered with director Jon Turtletaub and producer Chuck Gordon on a comedy they developed, CBS green-lit an MOW they wrote that Burt Reynolds was attached to, and IRS Films - in conjunction with the Chiodo Bros. - hired them to write an original.

Scott's decade-long roller coaster ride ended when he decided to pursue a welling interest in directing. Financing a 9-minute short, he was accepted into the American Film Institute's highly competitive MFA program. After his stint at the AFI, and 3 more shorts under his belt, Scott quickly optioned his first solo writing effort to producer Dale Pollock (Scott was the only director in his class of 24 that Pollock, former co-chair of the AFI producing program, got into business with). Although Pollock shut his company to become Dean of the North Carolina School Of The Arts, Scott once again optioned the project, this time to Beverly Hills-based Crusader Entertainment. Crusader attached Scott to direct the $8 million picture and placed it on the schedule for pre-production, but the film was scuttled due to internal politics.

Scott wrote his next feature based on a childhood experience of his. A coming-of-age comedy, it was 1 of 20 American projects chosen as a "No Borders" selection by the Independent Film Project (IFP NY) with Scott attached to direct, and was showcased at their annual International Co-Production market in Manhattan.

Next up, Scott produced and developed writer/director Rufus Williams' thriller "Butterfly Dreaming," which made its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival and was the opening night picture of the Santa Monica Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize for Best Thriller. "Butterfly Dreaming" was picked up for domestic distribution by Vanguard Cinema and released on DVD May 2010. While developing "Butterfly," Scott partnered with famed Hollywood producer David Foster on a horror-thriller. With Peter O'Toole committed to playing one of the leads and ICM representing the package, the film began casting - South African director Jason Xenopoulos set to helm - but was put on hold when a portion of the financing fell out.

Currently, Scott is working on "Dark Corners," a "Psycho"-like thriller he developed with Lorne Cameron and "Saw's" Tobin Bell; is partnered with writer-director Chuck Russell ("The Scorpion King," "The Mask") and producer Ryan Heppe on "Dark Thirst"; has optioned his "Goosebumps-like" script "Red Racer" to Canadian producer Bill Marks and award-winning director Gayle Harvey; and is writing a new psychological thriller entitled "The Protector." Rusty Waldman.