J. Neil Schulman is a multifaceted individual with a diverse range of professions. Born in Forest Hills, New York, he is the only son of renowned concert violinist Julius Schulman and painter Betty Schulman. Growing up in New York City, New Orleans, and Massachusetts, Schulman developed an early interest in art, regularly selling sports and event photography to newspapers, and even having his art photography submitted to the Museum of Modern Art.
After dropping out of City University of New York, Schulman pursued a career as a writer, making his first professional sale to the New York Times Book Review in 1973. His journalism career includes humor sold to Reader's Digest and the Los Angeles Times Book Review, op-eds in the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register, and feature articles in various magazines, such as National Review and Cult Movies.
In 1975, Schulman moved to Southern California, where he lived in Long Beach, Hollywood, and Venice, before settling in Culver City. He married singer/composer Kate O'Neal in 1985, and they had a daughter, Soleil O'Neal-Schulman, in 1991. The couple divorced the following year.
During this period, Schulman worked as an assistant to a Hollywood talent agent, a first reader for a New York book publisher, a literary agent, and a raunchy humor magazine editor. He also produced classical music for Texas cable television, traveled as a researcher for a Pennsylvania public television station, taught a graduate course in media studies for the New School in New York City, and produced original radio drama for the Pacifica Radio Network.
In 1989, Schulman founded the first of two book publishing companies, which made bestselling authors' books available through on-demand print or digital download. He has been recognized as a pioneer of the eBook by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Esquire. In 1990, he began a career as a radio talk show host.
As an author, Schulman has written ten books, including three novels. His debut novel, Alongside Night, published in 1979, won endorsements from Anthony Burgess and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and went on to win the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. His 1983 novel, The Rainbow Cadenza, also won the Prometheus Award, and inspired a Laserium show. His latest novel, Escape from Heaven, was a finalist for the Prometheus Award and is currently being developed as a feature film.
Schulman's screenwriting career began with an original feature film treatment sold to Herb Jaffe's Vista Films in 1983, and in 1986, he sold two original scripts to CBS's revived Twilight Zone, one of which, "Profile in Silver," was produced. The outlines and first two drafts of that teleplay are included in his 1999 book, Profile In Silver And Other Screenwritings. The book also includes the bulk of Schulman's early works written for the screen, as well as commentaries about his adventures and trials in the film and TV industries.
In 2005, Schulman began a producing partnership with Nichelle Nichols, and produced, wrote, and directed his first feature film, Lady Magdalene's.
