James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the CBS News broadcasts. He moved to Los Angeles in 1965 to work on David L. Wolper's documentaries. After being laid off he met producer Allan Burns who secured him a job as a writer on the series My Mother the Car. Brooks wrote for several shows before being hired as a story editor on My Friend Tony and later creating the series Room 222. Grant Tinker hired Brooks and Burns at MTM Productions to create The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. The show, one of the first to feature an independent working woman as its lead character, was critically acclaimed and won Brooks several Primetime Emmy Awards. Brooks and Burns then created two successful spin-offs from Mary Tyler Moore in the shape of Rhoda (a comedy) and Lou Grant (a drama). Brooks left MTM Productions in 1978 to co-create the sitcom Taxi which, despite winning multiple Emmys, suffered from low ratings and was canceled twice. He moved into feature film work when he wrote and co-produced the 1979 film Starting Over. His next project was the critically acclaimed film Terms of Endearment, which he produced, directed and wrote, winning an Academy Award for all three positions. Basing his next film, Broadcast News, on his journalistic experiences the film earned him a further two Academy Award nominations. Although his 1994 work I'll Do Anything was hampered by negative press attention due to the cutting of all of its recorded musical numbers, As Good as It Gets (co-written with Mark Andrus) earned further praise. It was seven years until his next film, which came in the shape of 2004's Spanglish. His sixth film, How Do You Know, was released in 2010. Brooks also produced and mentored Cameron Crowe on Say Anything... (1989) and Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on Bottle Rocket (1996). Although he did not intend to do so, Brooks returned to television in 1987 as the producer of The Tracey Ullman Show. He hired cartoonist Matt Groening to create a series of shorts for the show, which eventually led to The Simpsons in 1989. The Simpsons won numerous awards and is still running after 20 years. Brooks also co-produced and co-wrote the 2007 film adaptation of the show, The Simpsons Movie. In total, Brooks has received 47 Emmy nominations, winning 20 of them.
Being Mary Tyler Moore
(Self (voice))
Thank You Very Much
(Self)
Albert Brooks: Defending My Life
(Self)
Misery Loves Comedy
(Self)
Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel
(Self)
James L. Brooks - A Singular Voice
(Self (archive footage))
Lost in America
(Party Guest (uncredited))
Modern Romance
(David)
Hans Zimmer: The Sound of Hollywood
(Self)
Harry Benson: Shoot First
(Self)
Disney Legends Awards Ceremony
(Self)
Real Life
(Driving Evaluator)
Mike Nichols: An American Master
(Self)
Dreams on Spec
(Self)
The Making of 'Bottle Rocket'
(Self)
Alan Pakula: Going for Truth
(Self)
The Process
Audience Research
(Paul Reynold)
The Simpsons
(James L. Brooks (voice))
Prisoners of Gravity
(Self)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
(Rabbi (uncredited))
The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling
(Self)
The Simpsons Movie
(Screenplay)
The Simpsons Movie
(Producer)
The War of the Roses
(Producer)
Spanglish
(Director)
As Good as It Gets
(Director)
As Good as It Gets
(Screenplay)
Say Anything...
(Executive Producer)
Big
(Producer)
Terms of Endearment
(Producer)
Terms of Endearment
(Director)
Terms of Endearment
(Screenplay)
Jerry Maguire
(Producer)
Broadcast News
(Screenplay)
Broadcast News
(Producer)
Broadcast News
(Director)
Bottle Rocket
(Executive Producer)
How Do You Know
(Director)
How Do You Know
(Producer)
How Do You Know
(Writer)
Maggie Simpson in "The Force Awakens from Its Nap"
(Producer)
Starting Over
(Writer)
When Billie Met Lisa
(Producer)
I'll Do Anything
(Director)
I'll Do Anything
(Writer)
Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
(Writer)
The Good, the Bart, and the Loki
(Producer)
Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
(Producer)
Planet of the Couches
(Writer)
Thursday's Game
(Producer)
Thursday's Game
(Writer)
The Simpsons in Plusaversary
(Producer)
Welcome to the Club
(Producer)
Ella McCay
(Director)
Ella McCay
(Writer)
Ella McCay
(Producer)
Jumpin' Jack Flash
(Thanks)
Spanglish
(Producer)
A Terrifying Message from Al Gore
(Thanks)
The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror
(Writer)
The Best of the Tracey Ullman Show
(Executive Producer)
Ride
(Thanks)
Carlton Your Doorman
(Characters)
50/50
(Thanks)
The Edge of Seventeen
(Producer)
I'll Do Anything
(Producer)
Cindy
(Writer)
Cindy
(Producer)
May the 12th Be with You
(Producer)
Maggie Simpson in "Rogue Not Quite One"
(Producer)
My Own Private Idaho
(Thanks)
Spanglish
(Writer)
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
(Producer)
The Simpsons: Too Hot For TV
(Scenario Writer)
Riding in Cars with Boys
(Producer)
Starting Over
(Producer)
Maggie Simpson in "Playdate with Destiny"
(Writer)
Maggie Simpson in "Playdate with Destiny"
(Producer)
As Good as It Gets
(Producer)
Do the Bartman
(Executive Producer)
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
(Producer)
The Andy Griffith Show
(Writer)
The Tracey Ullman Show
(Writer)
The Tracey Ullman Show
(Executive Producer)
Lou Grant
(Writer)
Lou Grant
(Producer)
Rhoda
(Writer)
Rhoda
(Producer)
The Critic
(Producer)
Phenom
(Producer)
That Girl
(Writer)
The Doris Day Show
(Writer)
The Simpsons
(Executive Producer)
The Simpsons
(Writer)
Taxi
(Writer)
Taxi
(Executive Producer)
My Mother the Car
(Writer)
Sibs
(Producer)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
(Writer)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
(Executive Producer)
Accidental Family
(Writer)
The Associates
(Producer)
What About Joan?
(Producer)
The Simpsons
(Development Manager)
Lou Grant
(Creator)
Rhoda
(Creator)
The Tracey Ullman Show
(Creator)
Taxi
(Creator)
Room 222
(Creator)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
(Creator)
The Associates
(Creator)
Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers
(Creator)