JIM TAYLOR

(Co-screenwriter)
Jim Taylor is the long-time collaborator of writer-director Alexander Payne. In addition to SIDEWAYS, the two have co-authored three previous award-winning and critically acclaimed screenplays: 1996’s CITIZEN RUTH, 1999’s ELECTION; and the 2002’s ABOUT SCHMIDT.

The screenplay for ELECTION received an Independent Spirit Award as well as awards from the Writers Guild of America and the New York Film Critics Circle. ELECTION was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. ABOUT SCHMIDT was honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press with a Golden Globe for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In addition to his continuing collaboration with Alexander Payne, Taylor is currently at work on two screenplays that he will direct. The first is an adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent, produced by the Steppenwolf Theater Company's film division, and the second is an original story inspired by the documentary TUPPERWARE!

Born and raised in Seattle, Taylor earned an M.F.A. in Theater Arts from New York University in 1995.