Claudia Weill is a film, television, and theatre director. After graduating Harvard in 1969, she made 30 short films for SESAME STREET (still on the air) and directed documentaries, notably THIS IS THE HOME OF MRS LEVANT GRAHAM (Kennedy Journalism Award) and THE OTHER HALF OF THE SKY: A CHINA MEMOIR, with Shirley MacLaine, released theatrically in 1975 (Academy Award Nomination).
She produced and directed her first feature, GIRLFRIENDS, in 1979 with Melanie Mayron, Chris Guest, Bob Balaban, and Eli Wallach, which she sold to Warner Brothers after winning multiple awards at Cannes, Filmex, and Sundance. Next she directed IT’S MY TURN for Columbia Pictures, with Jill Clayburgh, Michael Douglas and Charles Grodin, winning the Donatello (European Oscar) for Best New Director.
She directed mostly new plays at Williamstown, The O’Neill, Sundance, ACT, Empty Space and in New York at MTC, the Public and Circle Rep among others. In 1984, she was nominated for the Drama Desk Best Director Award for the premiere of Donald Margulies’ FOUND A PEANUT w/Bob Joy and Evan Handler produced by Joe Papp at the Public Theatre.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1985, she began working in television, directing episodic, cable movies and pilots. She is most well known for multiple episodes of THIRTYSOMETHING (Humanitas and Emmy Awards), MY SO-CALLED LIFE, CHICAGO HOPE (Reynolds Award), ONCE AND AGAIN, and TV movies, including JOHNNY BULL with Jason Robards, Kathy Bates, and Colleen Dewhurst, and FACE OF A STRANGER with Tyne Daly, Gena Rowlands, (Emmy Best Actress).
Returning to theatre in the last few years, she directed the West Coast Premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner, DOUBT (Shanley) w/Linda Hunt at the Pasadena Playhouse, TAPE (Belber) w/Michael Urie, MEMORY HOUSE (Tolan) w/Kathy Baker and END DAYS (Laufer) w/Amy Aquino at the Vineyard Playhouse, ARCHY and MEHITABEL at the Yard w/Alison Fraser and Ned Eisenberg, HUCK AND HOLDEN (Rajiv Joseph) at the Black Dahlia, LA BELLA FAMIGLIA at ACT, TWELFTH NIGHT, ACT A LADY and SWEET MERCY at Antaeus, MELANCHOLY PLAY, THE SHORE with Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen at the Pasadena Playhouse, and workshops of MODERN ORTHODOX, ADAM BAUM AND THE JEW MOVIE (Goldfarb) with Tony Shaloub and The PARENTS’ EVENING at the Vineyard Playhouse.
Ms Weill has guest taught directing for film, television and theatre at Columbia, Harvard, NYU, Julliard and taught Film Directing in the MFA program at Cal Arts. She is on the faculty at USC School of Cinema where she teaches Directing. Last year she was a Juror with Elvis Mitchell for the Nashville Film Festival. She regularly mentors young writers and directors around the country, serves on the Directors’ Executive Committee for the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and on the Board of Antaeus, the only classical theatre in LA. She is currently directing several of the “Game Changers” films for the DGA 75th Anniversary and writing a book about the art and craft of directing. claudiaweill@gmail.com