Award-winning filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini began as screenwriters and documentarians before moving to independent feature films. They enjoyed success with Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen’s and The Young and the Dead, their hilarious behind-the-scenes look at a Californian cemetery, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and aired on HBO. At each stage of their film career the team has earned accolades for exceptional work and they’ve been nominated for Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Independent Spirit Awards, won Emmys and prestigious awards from the Writers Guild of America, Sundance, Cannes, and many others for their writing and directing.

Their first feature film, American Splendor, was a biopic based on the comic books of Harvey Pekar. Starring Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis, the film earned more than 30 awards and honors (including the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes Film Festival, and a Best Adapted Screenplay Award from the Writers Guild of America, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay). The Hollywood Reporter said “The two documentarians in their feature debut hit an unbelievably rich vein of drama, love, whimsy, psychological turmoil, commonplace travails, genuine trauma and artistic triumph.”

Shari and Robert have also distinguished themselves on the small screen. Their HBO Original Film, Cinema Verite, starring Diane Lane, James Gandolfini and Tim Robbins, received nine Emmy nominations, including Best Movie, Outstanding Directing and a win for Best Editing for Robert, who edits all of his work with Shari. The star-studded film also received three Golden Globe nominations, a SAG nomination, and wins from ACE and the Writer’s Guild of America.

They followed this feature film debut with a series of films that marked a departure for a more mainstream style. The Nanny Diaries, featuring an all-star cast of Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney, Chris Evans, and Alicia Keyes premiered at The Venice Film Festival and was widely released by The Weinstein Company. It was followed by The Extra Man, based on the novel by Jonathan Ames and starring Kevin Kline, Paul Dano and John C. Riley, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures, and the comedy Girl Most Likely, with Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, Darren Criss and Christopher Fitzgerald. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by Lionsgate for wide release.

Currently Bob and Shari are working on their latest feature film, the coming-of-age drama Ten Thousand Saints, for which they also co-wrote the script, based on the novel by Eleanor  Henderson. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Hailee Stienfeld, Asa Butterfield and Emily Mortimer and is scheduled for release in 2015.