Alan Jacobs

Alan Jacobs (born 1 December 1958) is an American independent film director, screenwriter and producer. His films have been acquired by major distributors, including Miramax and Columbia Pictures and have been invited to several major festivals, including Sundance and Toronto. His career began at Apple Inc., where he was the in-house filmmaker. Jacobs is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Stanford Business School.

Jacobs was born in New York City to his parents Bernard and Sara Jacobs. His ties to the entertainment industry began at home – his father worked as a cameraman for NBC in the early days of television and later as an editor for CBS News in New York.

As a child, Jacobs was a voracious reader with a particular interest in sports. At Tappan Zee High School, in Orangeburg, New York he discovered a passion for writing. He began reporting for his high school newspaper as a freshman and eventually became editor-in-chief. Besides reading and writing about sports, Jacobs was also a varsity letterman in soccer.

After a brief stint in the pre-med program at Wesleyan University, Jacobs switched to studying writing and literature. Until he wrote his first screenplay in his mid-20s, Jacobs had almost no interest in movies. That experience infected him with the movie bug, apparently for life.

After graduating from Stanford Business School, Jacobs’ first paid job was making promotional videos for Apple under the title of “In-House Filmmaker.” He later moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in order to advance his film career.

Jacobs realized early on that independent filmmaking offered the creative freedom that best suited his lifestyle. His first feature, Nina Takes a Lover (1994), was a purely independent film that Jacobs wrote, directed and produced for $600,000. Both the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival accepted the film. Soon after Sundance, Columbia Pictures bought the rights to Nina Takes a Lover and distributed it theatrically. Sundance that year launched the careers of a distinguished group of filmmakers, including, David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy), Boaz Yakin (Remember the Titans) and the team of Scott McGehee and David Siegel (What Maisie Knew).

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