Michael Schultz
Known for: Directing
Born: November 10, 1938
Place of birth: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Schultz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Katherine Frances (née Leslie), a factory worker, and German American Leo Schultz, an insurance salesman. After his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Marquette University, he attended Princeton University, where in 1966 he directed his first play, a production of Waiting for Godot. He joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1968, which brought him to Broadway in 1969. His breakthrough was directing Lorraine Hansberry's To Be Young, Gifted and Black, which he restaged for television in 1972. Schultz' earliest film projects combined low comedy with profound social comment (Honeybaby, Honeybaby and Cooley High), reaching a peak with the ensemble comedy Car Wash (1976) and Which Way Is Up? (1977), starring Richard Pryor. In 1978, Schultz took the reins of the musical Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with the largest budget ever entrusted to an African-American film director to that date. However, upon its release, the project was a commercial and critical failure. Schultz would go on to make prominent films such as Scavenger Hunt (1979), Carbon Copy (1981), and Disorderlies (1987). More recently, Schultz has worked in television, piloting episodes of such style-conscious series as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Picket Fences, as well as an abundance of made-for-TV movies. In 1991, Schultz was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
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Filmography
43 movies · 57 TV shows, newest first
NR
SEGAL
2025
6.3
Found
2023
7.3
All American: Homecoming
2022
7.0
The Wonder Years
2021
6.9
I Am Richard Pryor
2019
8.1
All American
2018
6.9
Black Lightning
2018
6.4
No Tomorrow
2016
5.8
Dead of Summer
2016
6.4
Recovery Road
2016
6.8
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
2015
7.1
black-ish
2014
6.9
The Tomorrow People
2013
7.1
Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic
2013
6.8
Arrow
2012
7.4
Once Upon a Time
2011
7.3
Hart of Dixie
2011
7.4
New Girl
2011
7.5
Switched at Birth
2011
NR
Directors on Directing
2009
7.7
Drop Dead Diva
2009
7.1
Privileged
2008
7.0
In Plain Sight
2008
6.7
Eli Stone
2008
7.7
Women's Murder Club
2007
6.2
Dirty Sexy Money
2007
7.7
Chuck
2007
6.2
October Road
2007
8.7
Lincoln Heights
2007
7.1
Brothers and Sisters
2006
6.3
Pepper Dennis
2006
5.5
Woman Thou Art Loosed
2004
7.3
Jack & Bobby
2004
7.7
Cold Case
2003
7.7
The O.C.
2003
7.6
Everwood
2002
6.7
L.A. Law: The Movie
2002
7.3
Philly
2001
4.0
The Education of Max Bickford
2001
7.7
Boston Public
2000
7.9
Gilmore Girls
2000
5.8
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Winds of Change
2000
5.8
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure
2000
9.0
City of Angels
2000
5.8
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence
1999
7.8
Wasteland
1999
8.1
Family Law
1999
5.4
My Last Love
1999
7.0
Killers in the House
1998
8.2
Charmed
1998
6.6
Felicity
1998
6.5
Ally McBeal
1997
7.6
The Practice
1997
6.5
Promised Land
1996
5.2
Phat Beach
1996
6.1
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father
1996
7.3
JAG
1995
5.7
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Hollywood Follies
1994
7.2
Touched by an Angel
1994
7.2
Chicago Hope
1994
7.1
Diagnosis: Murder
1993
7.1
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
1993
5.0
Day-O
1992
6.5
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
1992
5.8
Livin' Large!
1991
7.2
Sisters
1991
7.0
Hammer, Slammer, & Slade
1990
2.5
Jury Duty: The Comedy
1990
4.0
Tarzan in Manhattan
1989
4.3
Rock 'N Roll Mom
1988
4.9
Disorderlies
1987
4.9
The Spirit
1987
5.4
Timestalkers
1987
7.1
L.A. Law
1986
6.4
Krush Groove
1985
6.5
The Last Dragon
1985
4.5
The Jerk, Too
1984
7.0
For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers
1983
7.0
Earth, Wind & Fire in Concert
1982
10.0
Benny's Place
1982
6.6
American Playhouse
1982
5.8
Carbon Copy
1981
5.6
Scavenger Hunt
1979
4.3
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1978
5.8
Which Way Is Up?
1977
6.4
Greased Lightning
1977
6.0
Car Wash
1976
7.3
Starsky & Hutch
1975
7.0
Cooley High
1975
6.5
Baretta
1975
9.0
Midi Première
1975
10.0
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men
1975
NR
Bee Gees: Live in Melbourne 1974
1974
6.0
Honeybaby, Honeybaby
1974
7.6
The Rockford Files
1974
6.3
Movin' On
1974
8.3
Together for Days
1972
7.0
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
1972
NR
Return of the Dragon
—7.0
Shock Treatment
—