Robin Swicord

Robin Swicord is primarily known for her work as a screenwriter for Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) (Satellite Award for Best Screenplay); Little Women (1994) (Writers Guild Award nomination, Satellite Award); Matilda (1996) (with her husband Nicholas Kazan); and the cult comedies Shag (1988), The Perez Family (1995), and Practical Magic (1998).  In 2009, Swicord received an Oscar nomination for her contribution to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), a project she originated and worked on for more than a decade.  Swicord adapted the screenplay for her feature-directing debut, Sony Pictures Classics’ The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), produced by Julie Lynn and John Calley. She also wrote and directed Wakefield (2016) starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. As both writer and co-executive producer, Swicord collaborated with Ava DuVernay on the five-part miniseries When They See Us (2019) for Netflix. 

Swicord served for seven years as a Governor for the Writers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. She mentors for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab and Film Independent’s creative labs.  She is an honorary professor at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), where she teaches an annual 10-day screenwriting workshop that focuses on narrative and the elements of drama.