Tom Shepherd
Tom placed on the Blacklist for his screenplay, HEY, STELLA!, about how Marlon Brando used his tortured relationship with his mother to win the part of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and change active forever.
Originally from Minnesota, Tom studied writing and literature at Bard College. But it wasn’t until moving to Los Angeles and breathing movie air that he became obsessed with screenplays and how to write them. Eventually, this obsession helped him prove that old adage — “It can happen to anyone!”
After placing on the Blacklist in 2013 for HEY, STELLA!, he’s written scripts for a long list of great producers and directors.
Of these projects, he most enjoys his period, action driven scripts like Capone, which he rewrote for Tom Hardy, and Agatha Christie (Sony), and his adaptation of Matt Helm (Paramount/Amblin), Dean Martin’s spy spoof that inspired Austin Powers, and would star Bradley Cooper.
In 2020, he received his first produced credit for Dolittle, a family adventure movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. This afforded him the opportunity to see the legendary Pinewood Studios in England turned into a pirate town he made up while sitting in crosstown traffic.
For a guy who lost out on his table waiting dream, it was a pretty epic consolation prize.
Based in LA, Tom and his wife are parents to a pandemic baby who grows at roughly the same pace that Robin Williams did in the seminal film Jack. When not feeding his sumo child, he tries his darndest to keep his scripts one clever step ahead of GPT-4 and Silicon Valley’s legion of AI content bots.
Testimonials
I’ve taken a few script anatomy classes, and Tom’s was my favorite. His mix of talent and experience is what you want in an instructor. His feedback took my script to the next level and really helped to make it pop. Whether it was line suggestions, scene work, or conceptual modifications, Tom’s insights hit on every level. In short, he’s the five-tool full package as a writer and a mentor. He also does a great job answering questions to demystify aspects of writing and the business for people of all levels. I couldn’t recommend him more.
I can’t imagine a better instructor than Tom. His extensive knowledge of screenwriting, movies, and the film industry itself was amazing. Tom’s dedication to our scripts and helping us develop them was evident in both his comprehensive and constructive notes and the insightful feedback he gave to each of us in every class. Tom was professional and also encouraging, empowering, and positive. I can’t overstate how helpful this class was—I learned SO much. The structure of the class and assignments reinforced each week’s screenwriting lesson. And the class itself, although a lot of work (which I expected) was also a lot of fun. There was a sense of camaraderie that added another cool element to the learning experience.