Rodney Rothman

Rodney Rothman
Rodney Rothman
	Rothman at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	United States
Occupation(s)	Filmmaker, writer

Rodney Rothman is an American filmmaker and author. He is known for his work on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, 22 Jump Street, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, Undeclared, and Late Show with David Letterman.

He has been nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, and also wrote the scripts for Grudge Match, 22 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which served as his feature directorial debut.

Rothman is the author of the best-selling nonfiction humor book Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, GQ, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, and McSweeney's Quarterly. His piece "My Fake Job" was included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading.

His work on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse earned him the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and Annie Awards for Directing and Writing in a Feature Production.

Career

In 2005, Rothman wrote the book Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement.^[1] He has been nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, and also wrote the scripts for Grudge Match, 22 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which served as his feature directorial debut. He co-directed the film with Bob Persichetti and Peter Ramsey, and co-wrote with Phil Lord. His work on the film earned him the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film and Annie Awards for Directing and Writing in a Feature Production.

In 2021, Rothman partnered with former MGM Co-President of Production Adam Rosenberg to form Modern Magic, a media company focused "on creating event entertainment for the 21st-century audience, across animation and live-action". Upcoming projects include collaborations with Stephen Curry, Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell, Neal Stephenson, Ricky Williams, Junji Ito, an original animated feature inspired by the music of the late rapper Juice WRLD, an animated feature based on the SXSW award-winning short film Nuevo Rico, and a live-action feature that Quinta Brunson is currently scripting for Sony Pictures.^[2]

In August 2022, Rothman revealed on Twitter that he was the person who Chris Farley picked up and threw into a dumpster during Farley's appearance on Late Show with David Letterman in February 1996. Rothman was a writer at the Late Show at the time.^[3]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Writer	Producer	Notes
1995–2000	Late Show with David Letterman	Yes	Yes	Apprentice writer (1995–1996); Staff writer (1996–1998); Head writer (1998–2000); Producer (1999–2000)^[4]
2001–2002	Undeclared	Yes	supervising
2004	Game Over	No	consultant
2004	$5.15/hr.	Yes	executive	TV pilot for HBO
2005	Early Bird	No	executive	Creator; TV pilot for NBC
2005	Committed	Yes	supervising
2006	Help Me Help You	Yes	executive
2006	The 78th Annual Academy Awards	Yes	No
TBA	The Promised Neverland	No	executive	Director^[5]