Tommy O Haver

An openly gay filmmaker whose work often recalls the romantic melodramas of the 1940s and 50s, Tommy O'Haver moved to the forefront of up and coming writer-directors with "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" (1998), a gentle romantic comedy about a homosexual photographer and his crush on a presumably heterosexual model.

A native of Indiana, O'Haver began making Super-8 films as a teenager. Originally harboring intentions of becoming a film critic, he studied journalism at Indiana University before moving to L.A. where he had been promised a production job. His experience on "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" (1991) led to work at New Line, where he rose from the mailroom to video publicity. By then, O'Haver had begun to take screenwriting classes at UCLA and was making his own short films. "The Pitch", about proposing screenplays to executives, was sold to Showtime and on its strength, he was accepted into the film school at USC. Several of his student shorts (including "Heidi and I", "Catalina", "Home Movies" and "Two") found their way into film festivals creating a buzz around the filmmaker. "Two", a stylized featurette about three friends sitting around a swimming pool who ultimately engage in an orgy climaxed in a musical dream montage, won special notice at its Sundance screening and led to producer David Moseley coming on board for O'Haver feature debut. "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" was a throwback to 50s melodramas and 60s romantic comedies also employed a mixture of styles, including several black-and-white dream sequences. Despite its setting amid a gay milieu. O'Haver strove to find the universality of the situation of a romantic who falls for the wrong people. After a screening at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, the film was acquired by Trimark and released in the summer to mostly positive reviews. O'Haver was signed by Universal to script and direct a live-action film based on the "Archie" comics.

• Also Credited As:
  Thomas C. O Haver, Thomas C. O'Haver
• Born:
  in Indiana, USA
• Job Titles:
  Director, Screenwriter, Mailroom clerk (at New Line), Production assistant, Video publicity assistant (at New Line)

Education

• Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, journalism, BS, 1991
• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, film, 1995
• University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, screenwriting

Milestones

• 1991 First screen credit (billed as Thomas C O Haver), production assistant on Freddy s Dead: The Final Nightmare
• 1998 Wrote and directed first feature Billy s Hollywood Screen Kiss, an expanded version of the short Catalina ; screened at the Sundance Film Festival; distributed by Trimark
• 2001 Directed second feature Get Over It starring Kirsten Dunst; film was a flop, barely making its money back at the box office
• 2004 Helmed Ella Enchanted, based on the popular children s book and starring Anne Hathaway and Cary Elwes
• 2007 Directed and co-wrote An American Crime, based on the true crime story of Indiana single mother Gertrude Baniszewski
• After college, moved to L.A.
• Began making Super-8 movies as a teenager
• Penned screenplay for film based on the Archie comics for Universal; was also set to direct but film was put on hold
• Raised in the Indianapolis, Indiana, area
• Sold short film The Pitch to Showtime
• Took screenwriting classes at UCLA
• While attending film school, made several short films including Catalina and Home Movie (both 1994)
• Worked at New Line; began as mailroom clerk, eventually rising to assistant in Home Video Publicity