Todd Solondz: An Introduction and Early films

Born in New Jersey, Todd Solondz started out with aspirations to become a Rabbi. But it was during his job as a delivery boy for the Writers' Guild of America that he began writing screenplays. Solondz was educated in private religious schools as a child and went on to receive an undergraduate degree from Yale in English. He then studied for his MFA in Film and Television at NYU but never completed his degree.

His first film, Schatt's Last Shot, was shot in 1985. Solondz's career is marked by dissecting the emotional components of each of his characters. Schatt's Last Shot introduces us to that by showing the emotional journey of a teenage boy who desperately wants to get into Stanford but, due to an angry gym teacher, can't pass gym class.


In 1989 Solondz wrote and directed Fear, Anxiety, and Depression. This film was more experimental with the fourth-wall, reminiscent of Annie Hall, than any of his other films. This film is about a guy named Ira (played by Solondz), who is a failed playwright and struggling artist, trying to find love and failing at that. He meets a great woman who likes him - but then botches it by trying to be with another woman, weemingly out of his league. For more information about this film, check out this site.