Howard A. Rodman

Howard A. Rodman is a screenwriter, author and professor. He is the former President of the Writers Guild of America, West, professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, alumnus of Telluride Association Summer Program and an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs.

He is the son of screenwriter Howard Rodman (1920–1985).

In his 20s and early 30s, Rodman was a typist, a legal proofreader, a mail-room clerk, a union organizer (for the Committee of Interns and Residents) and the guitarist for various lower-Manhattan post-punk bands (Made in USA, Arsenal, Soul Sharks). Starting as editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun, Rodman has published scores of articles in venues including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and the Village Voice (for which he was a monthly columnist).

His adaptations of Jim Thompson, David Goodis et al. for Showtime's Fallen Angels anthology series were directed by Steven Soderbergh and Tom Cruise. The screenplays were published in Fallen Angels: Six Noir Tales Told for Television. Rodman then wrote Joe Gould's Secret, which opened the 2000 Sundance festival and was subsequently released by October/USA Films. Rodman's original screenplay F. was selected by Premiere Magazine as one of Hollywood's Ten Best Unproduced Screenplays. Other films include Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, and August, with Josh Hartnett, Rip Torn, and David Bowie—both of which had their US premieres at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. They were released in 2008 from IFC and First Look, respectively. Rodman's screenplay for Savage Grace was nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best Screenplay category.

Destiny Express was published in January 1990 by Atheneum Books. It was blurbed by Thomas Pynchon, who called it "Daringly imagined and darkly romantic — a moral thriller."

Destiny Express is an historical romance. Set in Berlin in March 1933, it explores the stark choices faced by the German filmmaking community – chief among them legendary director Fritz Lang (M; Metropolis), and his acclaimed wife and collaborator, Thea von Harbou. Lang was famously offered the position of head of the Reich's film industry by Joseph Goebbels, and fled on the next train to Paris; von Harbou stayed, and made films for the Nazis. Destiny Express is thus the story of the end of a marriage, set in one of history's most crucial junctures. Other historical figures – Bertolt Brecht, Billy Wilder among them – play significant roles in the novel's intertwined narratives.

The novel The Great Eastern by Howard A. Rodman was published on June 4, 2019, by Melville House Publishing. In 2020, actor Keegan-Michael Key was quoted in The New York Times as saying of the book, "It’s great. It’s been my favorite read of the year so far."

In March 2019, the film rights to The Great Eastern were acquired by the UK film company Great Point Media, and Rodman was commissioned to write the screen adaptation.