Michael Tolkin
Birth Name:
Michael L. Tolkin
Birth Place:
New York City, New York, United States
Profession
Writer, Script department, Producer, Director, Actor
Fast Facts
- Won an Edgar for Best Motion Picture for "The Player" at the 1993 Edgar Allen Poe Awards
- Graduated from Vermont's Middlebury College in 1974
- Began his career as a journalist, writing feature articles for various publications while living in New York City
- Many of his screenplays are social satires that take a hard look at the world, but remain compassionate toward the people in it
- Sometimes writes screenplays based on his own novels, as in 1992's "The Player," based on his 1988 book by the same name
- Believes that a film changes so much from the writing process to the point at which the audience sees and interprets it that by that point, the story is theirs, not his
- Sees it as the director's job to cut down on scenes that are too long and dialogue that is too wordy
Awards
- 1992ACCA - Best Adapted Screenplay:Nominated
- 1992Independent Spirit Award - Best First Feature:Nominated
- 1992Independent Spirit Award - Best Screenplay:Nominated
- 1992NYFCC Award - Best Screenplay:Nominated
- 1993Oscar - Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published:Nominated
- 1993Best Foreign Film AwardNominated
- 1993BAFTA Film Award - Best Screenplay - Adapted:Winner
- 1993BAFTA Film Award - Best Film:Nominated
- 1993CFCA Award - Best Screenplay:Winner
- 1993CFCA Award - Best Picture:Nominated
- 1993Edgar - Best Motion Picture:Winner
- 1993Independent Spirit Award - Best Feature:Winner
- 1993Golden Globe - Best Screenplay - Motion Picture:Nominated
- 1993ALFS Award - Screenwriter of the Year:Winner
- 1993NSFC Award - Best Screenplay:Nominated
- 1993Literary Award - Screenplay:Winner
- 1993USC Scripter AwardNominated
- 1993WGA Award (Screen) - Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published:Winner
- 1998Stinker Award - Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More than $100 Million Using Hollywood Math:Nominated
- 1999Stinker Award - Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More than $100 Million Using Hollywood Math:Nominated
- 2002WAFCA Award - Best Original Screenplay:Nominated
- 2013Felix - Best Adapted Screenplay:Winner
- 2019PGA Award - Outstanding Producer of Limited Series Television:Nominated
- 2019Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Limited Series:Nominated
- 2019Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special:Nominated
- 2019Primetime Emmy - Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or a Dramatic Special:Nominated