Teddy Schwarzman

Biography

Teddy Schwarzman (born in New York City in 1979) is an American film producer, studio executive and media entrepreneur. He founded Black Bear Pictures, of which he is chief executive, and his name is closely tied to independent cinema of the last two decades.

After studying law at Duke, he worked as a corporate lawyer in New York before moving into film through the advisory firm Cinetic Media. In 2011 he founded Black Bear Pictures, which has since produced more than fifty films and distributes close to eight hundred titles.

His first Academy Award nomination for Best Picture came with The Imitation Game (2014), a biopic about Alan Turing that the company fully financed after competing with thirty other producers for the screenplay. Later titles include Mudbound, Nyad and Sing Sing, and a second nomination with Train Dreams, which Netflix acquired after its Sundance premiere.

His legacy is linked to a model that combines self-financing, author-driven filmmaking and international distribution. He still leads Black Bear, which operates in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Key films

• The Imitation Game (2014): produced by Black Bear, it earned his first Best Picture nomination.
• Suburbicon (2017): a title from the period when Black Bear expanded its catalogue of author-driven and genre films.
• Nyad (2023): a sports biopic about swimmer Diana Nyad, one of the Academy Award nominees the company has backed.
• Dumb Money (2023): a film about the GameStop trading episode on which Schwarzman is credited as producer.
• Train Dreams (2025): his second Best Picture nomination, which also won several Spirit Awards.