Cooper Michael Raiff (born c. 1997)[1][2] is an American filmmaker and actor. He has received critical acclaim for his films Shithouse (2020) and Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022).[3] He appeared on the 2022 Variety list of directors to watch.[4] In August 2022, Raiff launched his production company Small Ideas.
Early life
A native of Dallas, Raiff attended the Greenhill School.[1] He participated in school theatre productions and studied at the Dallas Young Actors Studio for 4 years.[5] During his senior year, he wrote and performed in his first play.[6] Raiff enrolled at Occidental College in Los Angeles and withdrew in 2019 to focus on film.[7]
Career
During spring break in 2018, Raiff stayed on campus to make Madeline & Cooper, a 50-minute short film that he uploaded to YouTube.[8] He then tweeted a link of the video to filmmaker Jay Duplass, who met with Raiff and encouraged him to adapt the project to feature-length; it became Raiff's
debut feature Shithouse, in which he starred, directed, wrote, produced, and co-edited.[9] The film premiered at the 2020 SXSW where it was named Best Narrative Feature.[10] Distributed by IFC Films,[11] it opened in October 2020 to positive reviews.[12][13]
Raiff's second film, Cha Cha Real Smooth, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for the Dramatic Competition, and is available on Apple TV+.[14] The film was reportedly purchased by the company for $15 million.[15]
On August 2, 2022, it was announced that Raiff has partnered with Clementine Quittner of Black Bear Productions to launch his own production company called Small Ideas. Raiff commented on the company, and the film industry at large, saying, "There's a very good, lucrative market for making small things and flipping them, and if you're okay with them being maybe like a streamer-theatrical duo, I think everyone should be really feeling great and confident about getting their stuff made that they want to make."[16]
