Jonathan Schwartz

Jonathan Schwartz (born 1969/1970) is an American film producer and former entertainment lawyer, known for producing independent features. Schwartz's credits include Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), Douchebag (2010), Like Crazy (2011), Smashed (2012), Nobody Walks (2012), Breathe In (2013), Imperial Dreams (2014), and The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2017). Through his production label, Super Crispy Entertainment, most of Schwartz's works have screened, won awards and secured distribution at the Sundance Film Festival. Throughout his career, he has collaborated extensively with producer Andrea Sperling, director Drake Doremus and actor-producer Logan Lerman. Early life and education A Los Angeles native, Jonathan Schwartz attended University of California, Berkeley, where he received his degree in rhetoric. He attended George Washington University Law School, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor. He was subsequently involved in the sports business by working as a sports researcher for companies like HBO and NBC Sports, which led him to become acquainted with Minnesota Vikings owners Zygi and Audrey Wilf. He moved back to Los Angeles and became a junior lawyer for the ICM Partners talent and literary agency. Schwartz subsequently worked for Real World Studios, answering to English singer-songwriter and cinemaphile Peter Gabriel. Career Schwartz founded his film production company, Crispy Films, in 2004. Utilizing his connections established through his career at HBO, NBC, ICM and Real World Studios, Schwartz managed to establish a number of major studio projects, including an adaptation of Thomas Hauser's novel Mark Twain Remembers, with James Franco attached to star. However, said production fell into a state of development hell, prompting Schwartz to pursue smaller, independent productions. The studio's breakthrough came with Wristcutters: A Love Story, a black comedy road movie that premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. In 2007, Schwartz co-produced Funny Games, an American remake of the 1997 Austrian psychological thriller of the same name. In 2008, Schwartz was introduced to a number of his future long-term collaborators, including fellow film producer Andrea Sperling, following the recommendation of a sales agent with Creative Artists Agency. Schwartz and Sperling became producing partners and Crispy Films was subsequently renamed Super Crispy Entertainment, with the Wilfs financing their projects.