Background
He is the son of screenwriter Howard Rodman (1920–1985).
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Howard Rodman
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He is the President of the Writers Guild of America, West. Professor and former chair of the writing division at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. And an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting laboratories
His films include Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, and August, with Josh Hartnett, Rip Torn, and David Bowie—both of which had their United States premiers at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
They were released in 2008 from International Finance Corporation and First Look, respectively. Rodman"s screenplay for Savage Grace was nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best Screenplay category.
His adaptations of Jim Thompson, David Goodis et al. for Showtime"s Fallen Angels anthology series were directed by Steven Soderbergh and Tom Cruise. Rodman also wrote Joe Gould"s Secret, which opened the 2000 Sundance festival and was subsequently released by October/United States of America Films.
Rodman"s original screenplay F. was selected by Premiere Magazine as one of Hollywood"s Ten Best Unproduced Screenplays.
His 1990 novel, Destiny Express, an historical romance set in the pre-war German film community, was blurbed by Thomas Pynchon, who called it "daringly imagined, darkly romantic--a moral thriller."
Starting as editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun, Rodman has published scores of articles in venues including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and the Village Voice (for which he was a monthly columnist). He founded and chairs the Writers Guild Independent Writers Caucus. He has chaired FilmIndependent"s Spirit Awards feature film jury as well as the University of Southern California Scripter Awards.
He is an alumnus of the Seed Fund Board of the Liberty Hill Foundation, and a former editor of The Bill of Rights Journal.
His 2011 celebration of the centennial of the fictional French arch-fiend Fantômas took him to Yale University where he delivered a paper. The New School, where he appeared on a panel.
The Hammer Museum, where he showed one of Feuillade"s classic films. NOIRCON; and City Lights Books, where he participated in a four-day conference.
Working with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and the Writers Guild, Rodman has recently conducted public conversations with such writers as Tom Wolfe, Ricky Jay, Jeannette Seaver, Vince Gilligan, Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Matthew Weiner, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jean-Claude Carrière, Geoff Dyer, and Lady Antonia Fraser.
On October 31, 2013, Rodman was named a Chevalier de l"Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Republic.
Achievements
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He is a Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities. A member of the executive committee of the writers" branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A former trustee of the Writers Guild Foundation. Vice-chair of the Committee on the Professional Status of Writers. And serves on several nonprofit boards, among them the Franco-American Cultural Fund, and Cornell in Hollywood.
Membership
He is a member of the National Film Preservation Board, which advises Librarian of Congress on the annual selection of films to the National Film Registry, and on national film preservation planning policy.
