Richard Schenkman is an award-winning writer, producer, and director, whose work
spans feature films, television, commercials, music videos, branded content, and
documentaries. He began his career at MTV, where he helped launch the
groundbreaking cable network while creating distinctive promos, network IDs, and
documentary programming that helped define the channel’s early visual identity. He
later founded his own production company, producing acclaimed commercials, music videos, and fashion films for clients including Pepsi, Showtime, VH1, NBC, Swatch, Honda Scooters, Lifetime, and Nickelodeon, where his work earned a prestigious Clio Award.

In the 1990s, Schenkman transitioned into feature filmmaking while continuing to work extensively in television. His debut feature, The Pompatus of Love, became a festival success before its theatrical release in 1996. He followed it with October 22 for Millennium Films and the critically admired indie drama Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God… Be Back by Five, his second collaboration with actor/co-writer Jon Cryer.

During the early 2000s, Schenkman developed original pilots for VH1 and 20th Century Fox Television, directed episodes of Dick Wolf’s Arrest & Trial, and wrote and directed the VH1 original movie A Diva’s Christmas Carol, a ratings hit for the network starring Vanessa Williams. He also sold the sitcom pilot Drama Queen to NBC. Alongside his narrative work, Schenkman has remained active in documentary filmmaking, producing and directing both short-form and feature-length nonfiction projects throughout his career. He has served on the advisory board of the Rhode Island International Film Festival and has lectured at USC, CalArts, the LA Film School, and Columbia College Hollywood.

In 2007, Schenkman released two acclaimed features: And Then Came Love, starring Vanessa Williams and Eartha Kitt in her final screen appearance, and the now-iconic science-fiction drama Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth. Based on the final screenplay by legendary author Jerome Bixby, the film became an enduring cult
phenomenon and is consistently ranked among IMDb’s highest-rated science-fiction
films.

Schenkman later expanded into interactive media, writing popular iOS games for
TinyCo before returning to genre filmmaking with projects including Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, Mischief Night, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, The Man From Earth: Holocene, and the comedy Misfits. Across documentaries, television, and feature films, his body of work reflects a rare versatility, combining independent sensibilities with
commercial storytelling across multiple platforms and genres.