Susanna Fogel

Last updated
Susanna Fogel
Susanna Fogel on ColliderVideo.jpg
Fogel in 2018
Born
Providence, Rhode Island
Education Concord Academy
Columbia University (BA)
Occupation(s)director, screenwriter, author
Years active2014 – present
Parent
Relatives Jeremy Fogel (uncle)
Awards Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series (2020)

Susanna Fogel is an American director, screenwriter and author, best known for co-writing the 2019 film Booksmart and for co-writing and directing the 2018 action/comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me . Her many accolades include a DGA Award and nominations at the BAFTA Film Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards and the WGA Awards.

Contents

Early life and education

Fogel was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where her parents were both faculty at Brown University. Her father is the neuropsychiatrist and Harvard Medical School professor Barry S. Fogel, who founded the American Neuropsychiatric Association, and her mother, Margaret Selkin Fogel, is a psychologist. [1] Her grandfather, Daniel Fogel, was a personal lawyer to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. [2] Her uncle, Jeremy Fogel, is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. [2] She graduated from Concord Academy in 1998. [3]

In the summer before her senior year in college, she worked for James Schamus while he was producing Ang Lee's The Hulk . She graduated from Columbia University in 2002. [1] At Columbia, she was a writer of its 2001 Varsity Show. [1] [4] Her classmates included television writer and producer Lang Fisher. [5]

Career

Fogel and her writing partner Joni Lefkowitz originally wrote Life Partners as a one act play. [6] They eventually adapted it into a screenplay which Fogel went on to direct. The film premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. [7]

Fogel co-created and executive produced the Lionsgate/ABC drama series Chasing Life , which ran for two seasons.

Fogel co-wrote the script for Booksmart with Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins and Katie Silberman and was originally hired to direct the project, but was replaced during preproduction[ citation needed ]. The screenplay was later nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Frustrated by her experiences in the industry, Fogel co-wrote and directed the action-comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me . The film was released in 2018 and starred Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon, the latter of whom had appeared briefly in Fogel's debut film. [8]

She directed the pilot episodes for the television series The Wilds on Amazon, and The Flight Attendant on HBO Max, which she also Executive Produced. She has also directed episodes of Gillian Flynn’s Utopia, also for Amazon, and the return of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories for Apple TV+. The Flight Attendant was nominated in the category of Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) at the 2021 Golden Globe Awards.

She has been announced as the director for the upcoming feature film 'Winner', about the life of American whistleblower Reality Winner, [9] and as the co-writer and director of the action-thriller 'The Mentor' for Sony Pictures. [10]

Fogel has also been announced as the director of Cat Person , a thriller based upon the short story by Kristen Roupenian that will explore "the hellscape of modern romance and the idea that we have all been the villain in someone else’s story, and the victim in others", and that will star Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun. [11]

In April 2021 Fogel was awarded the DGA Award in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series category for her work on The Flight Attendant. In July 2021 she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Comedy Director, also for The Flight Attendant. [12]

She is a co-screenwriter of The Addams Family 2 . [13]

Writing career

Fogel is a regular contributor to The New Yorker online. [14]

Her novel, Nuclear Family: A Tragicomic Novel in Letters, was published in 2017.

Filmography

Film

Director

Writer

Television

YearTitleDirectorExecutive
Producer		Notes
2017 Chasing Life YesYes1 episode
Famous in Love YesNo1 episode
Play by PlayYesNo4 episodes
2020 Amazing Stories YesNo1 episode
Utopia YesNo2 episodes
The Wilds YesNo1 episode
The Flight Attendant YesYes2 episodes
2023 A Small Light YesYesMiniseries

Awards and nominations

AssociationYearCategoryWorkResultRef.
Alliance of Women Film Journalists 2020Best Woman ScreenwriterBooksmartNominated [15]
British Academy Film Awards 2020 Best Original Screenplay BooksmartNominated [16]
Directors Guild of America Awards 2020Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy SeriesThe Flight AttendantWon [17]
Dublin Film Critics Circle 2020Best ScreenplayBooksmartNominated [18]
Hollywood Critics Association 2020Best Original ScreenplayBooksmartNominated [19]
Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Awards 2020Best Original ScreenplayBooksmartWon
Primetime Emmy Awards 2021 Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series The Flight AttendantNominated [20]
St. Louis Film Critics Association 2020Best Original ScreenplayBooksmartNominated
Writers Guild of America Awards 2020Best Original ScreenplayBooksmartNominated

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Wallace, Phil (Summer 2018). "In the Director's Chair". Columbia College Today. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Oliver, Myrna (1991-07-06). "Daniel Fogel; Bradley's Personal Lawyer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  3. ↑ "Centennial Speaker Series". Concord Academy. 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  4. ↑ "Varsity Show's 107th Production: A Modern Spectacle That Evokes Rich Tradition". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  5. ↑ "30 Bingeable TV Shows Made by Columbia Graduates". Columbia Magazine. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  6. ↑ McCormack, Colin (25 November 2014). "Filmmaker Interview: SUSANNA FOGEL, director/co-writer of LIFE PARTNERS" . Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Toro, Gabe (19 April 2014). "Tribeca Review: 'Life Partners' Starring Gillian Jacobs, Leighton Meester And Adam Brody" . Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  8. ↑ Riley, Jenelle (3 August 2018). "'The Spy Who Dumped Me' Director Susanna Fogel on Female Friendship and Sam Heughan". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  9. ↑ "Russian Election Interference Movie in the Works From 'The Farewell' Producers". The Hollywood Reporter. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  10. ↑ "'Booksmart' Scribe Susanna Fogel to Write and Direct 'The Mentor' for Sony; David Iserson Also Scripting". 5 April 2021.
  11. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (2021-06-20). "'Cat Person': Emilia Jones & Nicholas Braun To Star In Short Story Adaptation For Studiocanal & Imperative — Cannes Market". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  12. ↑ "Susanna Fogel". Television Academy. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  13. ↑ Gyarkye, Lovia (2021-10-01). "'The Addams Family 2': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-10-03.
  14. ↑ Fogel, Susanna. "Susanna Fogel". The New Yorker . Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "2020 EDA Award Winners – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS" . Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  16. ↑ "2021 EE British Academy Film Awards: The Winners". www.bafta.org. 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  17. ↑ "74th Annual DGA Awards". www.dga.org. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  18. ↑ "The 2021 Dublin Film Critics Circle (DFCC) Winners". Next Best Picture. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  19. ↑ Variety Staff (2020-01-10). "'1917' Wins Best Picture at 3rd Annual Hollywood Critics Association Awards". Variety. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  20. ↑ "Emmys 2021: 'The Crown' Becomes First Series to Sweep All 7 Drama Categories". 19 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
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