Stu Pollard

Stu Pollard (born January 26, 1967) is an American film producer, writer and director. His credits include Nice Guys Sleep Alone and Keep Your Distance, as well as the 2019 survival thriller Rust Creek.

Stu Pollard
Born
Stuart B. Pollard

(1967-01-26) January 26, 1967
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materGeorgetown University, BSBA 1989
USC School of Cinematic Arts, MFA 1994
Occupation(s)Producer, director, writer
Years active1999–present
WebsiteLunacy Productions

Early life and education

Pollard was born in Louisville, Kentucky and attended Kentucky Country Day School. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1989, then spent three years working for New York's McCann-Erickson before moving to Los Angeles to earn his MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Career

After graduating from the University of Southern California, Pollard created Lunacy Unlimited, a production company that created a number of award-winning commercials and documentaries before eventually shifting its focus to features.

Pollard made his feature film debut in 1999, producing, writing and directing Nice Guys Sleep Alone, starring Sean O'Bryan and Vanessa Marcil. A romantic comedy about the dating scene in Louisville, the independent production was broadcast in over a dozen countries and carried on cable television's HBO. The film became the first Netflix exclusive,[1] garnering press coverage from USA Today, Time, and Variety.

In 2005, Pollard delivered his second feature film. He produced, wrote, and directed Keep Your Distance, starring Gil Bellows and Jennifer Westfeldt. The thriller depicts a seemingly perfect marriage, which slowly dissolves at the foot of betrayal.

Pollard received a number of producing credits for independent films from 2006 through 2015, including Ira & Abby and Bass Ackwards. In 2015, Pollard founded his production company Lunacy Productions in order to break free of the "one at a time" model of independent filmmaking and have multiple projects in development at a time. Lunacy has offices in Louisville, Kentucky, and Los Angeles, California,[2] and focuses on supporting emerging filmmakers while also working on new materials with established talent.[3]

With Lunacy Productions, Pollard produced the critically acclaimed survival thriller Rust Creek, which won the Best Thriller Feature Award at the San Diego International Film Festival.[4] On November 30, 2020, Rust Creek had its Netflix debut. The film spent more than a week on Netflix's top ten movies list.[5] His latest release is the romantic comedy Plus One, starring Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine.[6]

Pollard is also an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and teaches at Film Independent. He is a member of both the PGA and DGA.[7]

Filmography
Year Film Director Producer Writer Notes
1999 Nice Guys Sleep Alone Yes Yes Yes Directorial debut
2005 Keep Your Distance Yes Yes Yes Breckenridge Festival of Film Best Feature[8]
2006 Ira and Abby No Yes No
2007 Dirty Country No Yes No
2009 True Adolescents No Yes No
2010 Bass Ackwards No Yes No
2012 Pilgrim Song No Yes No
2013 Forty Years From Yesterday No Yes No
2016 Split No Yes No
2017 And Then I Go No Yes No New Hampshire Film Festival Best Feature[9]
2017 The Outdoorsman No Yes No
2018 7 Splinters in Time No Yes No
2018 This Is Home: A Refugee Story No Yes No Sundance Film Festival Audience Award[10]
2019 Rust Creek No Yes Story San Diego International Film Festival Best Thriller Feature[4]
2019 Plus One No Yes No Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award Narrative[11]

References
  1. Wu, Tim. "Netflix's War on Mass Culture," The New Republic. December 4, 2013.
  2. Aretakis, Rachel (May 1, 2015). "Stu Pollard launches new filmmaking venture". Louisville Business Journal.
  3. Adams, Kirby (January 19, 2019). "How Iroquois Park plays a key role in this drug-fueled Kentucky thriller". The Courier-Journal.
  4. "2018 Award Winners". San Diego Film Festival.
  5. "This Thriller Just Hit #5 on Netflix's Most-Watched Movie List—and It Looks Intense". 3 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  6. Keel, Eli (June 12, 2019). "Filmmaker Stu Pollard comes home with award-winning rom-com 'Plus One'". Insider Louisville.
  7. "Equity Financing 101 with Stu Pollard". Film Independent.
  8. Summers, Michael (October 3, 2005). "Award-winning thriller Keep Your Distance premiers at Cinema Center Tech". Fort Wayne Reader.
  9. "New Hampshire Night Ignites the Celebrations for 17th Annual New Hampshire Film Festival". New Hampshire Film Festival. October 13, 2017.
  10. "2018 Sundance Film Festival Award Announced". Sundance Institute. January 27, 2018.
  11. "Plus One from Studio71 wins Audience Award at Tribeca Film Festival". Red Arrow Studios. May 4, 2019.


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