School of Cinematic Arts Directory Profile

Directory Profile

David Howard, M.F.A.

Professor
Former Chair

Affiliated Divisions:

John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television

Email: dhoward@usc.edu
Work Phone: 213.740.7516
Office: SCA 335

David Howard is an internationally known screenwriter, script doctor/consultant and educator.

Hidden Moon, a feature film he co-wrote, is currently in production in Mexico. Directed and co-written by Pepe Bojorquez, the American-Mexican co-production stars Wes Bentley, Linda Gray, Johnathon Schaech, Ana Serradilla and Osvaldo de Léon. It will be released late in 2011.

His most recently released project is Albert Schweitzer: A Life for Africa which will premiere in Berlin in 2009. It was directed by Gavin Millar with whom he co-wrote the screenplay and was shot in English entirely on location in South Africa starring Jeroen Krabbe, Barbara Hershey and Judith Godreche.

Howard co-wrote The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island which won the 2007 German Film Prize for Best Children's Film. He co-wrote and co-produced Sea of Dreams, winner of the prestigious Silver Goddess Award in Mexico where it was shot starring Sonia Braga, Seymour Cassel, Johnathon Schaech and Angelica Maria. He wrote the film, My Friend Joe which won the Blue Bear for Best Children's Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. It also won 12 other festival prizes, including four more best picture awards and an audience prize at Edinburgh.

Among his other produced works are: Humanitas Prize winner, Wildflower, which was directed by Diane Keaton and starred Patricia Arquette and Reese Witherspoon; A Sordid Affair; Mayday; Running Mates, starring Diane Keaton and Ed Harris; and the Rugrats television series, which won an Emmy Award. He created Flitze Firetooth, an animated children's series, for ZDF network in Germany and co-wrote the feature length animated film, Sian Ka'an, which was produced in Puerto Rico and stars the voices of Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina and Placido Domingo.

As a creative producer, he oversaw all story development and screenwriting for the highly rated Spanish-language television series S.O.S. - Sexo y Otros Secretos - for Televisa in Mexico and Univision in the U.S.

A tenured full professor, he has taught at USC's School of Cinematic Arts for 24 years and was the founding director of its Graduate Screenwriting Program. He is the author of two definitive books on screenwriting, including Tools of Screenwriting which is a core text used at top film programs worldwide and is published in six languages. He has led screenwriting workshops around the world: from nearly every country in Western Europe to Korea, New Zealand, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and Cuba. He has worked as a professional script doctor and story consultant on dozens of produced projects for film, television and other media around the world.