Jeffrey Schwarz

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Jeffrey Schwarz is President & CEO of Automat Pictures, a Los Angeles based entertainment company specializing in the production of original television programming, DVD Added Value, EPKs (electronic press kits), narrative and documentary films.

Jeffrey launched Automat in the early days of the DVD format, realizing the potential for compelling documentary programming in the tried-and true "behind the scenes" genre. Jeffrey has since contributed to the success of dozens of major studio DVD releases, producing such documentaries as You Can't Stop the Beat: The Long Journey of Hairspray, No Day But Today: The Story of Rent, Inside of the Labyrinth: The Making of The Silence of the Lambs, Never Sleep Again: The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Minnesota Nice, about the Coen Brothers' Fargo, Blonde Poison: The Making of Basic Instinct, and Mysteries of Love, profiling David Lynch's masterpiece Blue Velvet. Jeffrey's documentary People Like Us: Making Philadelphia, premiered at the 2003 San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Schwarz also executive produced Whether You Like It Or Not: The Story of Hedwig, which enjoyed a run at film festivals around the world.

In television, Schwarz brought Reservoir Dogs Revisited, a celebration of Quentin Tarantino's classic, Still Swingin, a tribute to the indie classic Swingers, to the Independent Film Channel, as well as several episodes of HBO First Look. More recently, the Encore Network presented two original Automat documentaries, Shooting the Police: Cops on Film and Hitchcocked! Schwarz's first narrative feature film as producer, Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds, was produced in association with Ariztical Entertainment and received its theatrical premiere in 2006.

A New York native, Jeffrey is a graduate of the SUNY Purchase Film Department, where he produced Al Lewis in the Flesh, a profile of Grampa Al Lewis, octogenarian star of TV's The Munsters. This film observes the American pastime of celebrity adulation and led to Jeffrey's on-going interest in producing films about popular culture and Americana.

He is currently in production on Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, a documentary portrait of 1970s porn legend Jack Wrangler, and in development on Planet Kuchar, a narrative biopic about underground filmmaking legend George Kuchar.

Schwarz's feature documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story premiered at the 2007 AFI Fest and was awarded the Audience Award for Best Documentary.

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