Michael Schultz
Born: 1938-11-10 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Known For: Directing
Biography
Schultz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Katherine Frances (née Leslie), a factory worker, and German American Leo Schultz, an insurance salesman. After his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Marquette University, he attended Princeton University, where in 1966 he directed his first play, a production of Waiting for Godot. He joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1968, which brought him to Broadway in 1969. His breakthrough was directing Lorraine Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted and Black, which he restaged for television in 1972. Schultz' earliest film projects combined low comedy with profound social comment (Honeybaby, Honeybaby and Cooley High), reaching a peak with the ensemble comedy Car Wash (1976) and Which Way Is Up? (1977), starring Richard Pryor. In 1978, Schultz took the reins of the musical Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with the largest budget ever entrusted to an African-American film director to that date. However, upon its release, the project was a commercial and critical failure. Schultz would go on to make prominent films such as Scavenger Hunt (1979), Carbon Copy (1981), and Disorderlies (1987). More recently, Schultz has worked in television, piloting episodes of such style-conscious series as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Picket Fences, as well as an abundance of made-for-TV movies. In 1991, Schultz was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
Filmography
2025
- SEGAL as Self
2023
- Found ... (Director)
2022
- All American: Homecoming ... (Director)
2021
- The Wonder Years ... (Director)
2019
- I Am Richard Pryor as Self - Filmmaker
2018
- All American ... (Director)
- Black Lightning ... (Director)
2016
- Dead of Summer ... (Director)
- No Tomorrow ... (Writer)
- Recovery Road ... (Director)
2015
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ... (Director)
2014
- black-ish ... (Director)
2013
- The Tomorrow People ... (Director)
- Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic as Self
2012
- Arrow ... (Director)
2011
- Once Upon a Time ... (Director)
- New Girl ... (Director)
- Hart of Dixie ... (Director)
- Switched at Birth ... (Director)
2009
- Drop Dead Diva ... (Director)
- Directors on Directing as Self
2008
- Eli Stone ... (Director)
- In Plain Sight ... (Director)
- Privileged ... (Director)
2007
- Chuck ... (Director)
- Dirty Sexy Money ... (Director)
- Lincoln Heights ... (Director)
- Women's Murder Club ... (Director)
- October Road ... (Director)
2006
- Brothers and Sisters ... (Director)
- Pepper Dennis ... (Director)
2004
- Jack & Bobby ... (Director)
- Woman Thou Art Loosed ... (Director)
2002
- Everwood ... (Director)
- L.A. Law: The Movie ... (Director)
2001
- The Education of Max Bickford ... (Director)
- Philly ... (Director)
2000
- Gilmore Girls ... (Director)
- Boston Public ... (Director)
- The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure ... (Director)
- The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Winds of Change ... (Director)
- City of Angels ... (Director)
1999
- Family Law ... (Director)
- The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence ... (Director)
- My Last Love ... (Director)
- Wasteland ... (Director)
1998
- Charmed ... (Director)
- Felicity ... (Director)
- Killers in the House ... (Director)
1997
- The Practice ... (Director)
- Ally McBeal ... (Director)
1996
- Phat Beach ... (Executive Producer)
- Promised Land ... (Director)
- The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father ... (Director)
1995
- JAG ... (Director)
1994
- Chicago Hope ... (Director)
- Touched by an Angel ... (Director)
- Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies ... (Director)
1993
- Diagnosis: Murder ... (Director)
- The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. ... (Director)
1992
- The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles ... (Director)
- Day-O ... (Director)
1991
- Livin' Large! ... (Director)
- Sisters ... (Director)
1990
- Hammer, Slammer, & Slade ... (Director)
- Jury Duty: The Comedy ... (Director)
1989
- Tarzan in Manhattan ... (Director)
1988
- Rock 'N Roll Mom ... (Director)
1987
- Timestalkers ... (Director)
- Disorderlies ... (Director)
- The Spirit ... (Director)
1986
- L.A. Law ... (Director)
1985
- The Last Dragon ... (Director)
- Krush Groove ... (Director)
1984
- The Jerk, Too ... (Director)
1983
- For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers ... (Director)
1982
- Benny's Place ... (Director)
- Earth, Wind & Fire in Concert ... (Director)
1981
- Carbon Copy ... (Director)
- Bustin' Loose ... (Director)
1979
- Scavenger Hunt ... (Director)
1978
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ... (Director)
1977
- Greased Lightning ... (Director)
- Which Way Is Up? ... (Director)
1976
- Car Wash ... (Director)
1975
- Starsky & Hutch ... (Director)
- Baretta ... (Director)
- Midi Première as Self
- Cooley High ... (Director)
- Ceremonies in Dark Old Men ... (Director)
1974
- The Rockford Files ... (Director)
- Movin' On ... (Director)
- Honeybaby, Honeybaby ... (Director)
- Bee Gees - Live au Festival Hall de Melbourne ... (Director)
1972
- Together for Days ... (Director)
- To Be Young, Gifted and Black ... (Director)