David E. Tolchinsky [1] is a screenwriter, sound designer, and academic. He is currently Chair of Northwestern University's Department of Radio-TV-Film and Founder/Director of Northwestern's MFA in Writing for the Screen+Stage/Creative Writing for the Media Program [2].
As a screenwriter, his feature film, Girl [[3]], is distributed by Sony and has been seen internationally. He has been commissioned by such studios as Touchstone/Disney, MGM Pictures, Ivan Reitman's Montecito Pictures, USA Networks, Edward R. Pressman Film Corp, and Addis-Wechsler & Assoc./Industry to write feature screenplays. He is the author of original screenplays such as The Last Crash and Reflections on a Teenage Anti-Christ featured in a New York Times article about home offices [4] Some of his work centers on teen subcultures such as heavy-metal fans, Florida surfer teens, teen groupies, and female football players, particularly in relation to social decay. He is also interested in horror, both psychological and physical. He has a secondary interest in sound design and has designed the sound for interactive computer environments and video installations which have been exhibited internationally. He also curates gallery shows. In 2003, he was nominated for a 2003 Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Award for his sound design for Dolly.[5]. In 2008, he was appointed as a Northwestern University Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence [6]. In 2009, he co-curated The Horror Show at Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Projects in New York City which explored horror in film, video, installation, photography, sculpture and painting and which was featured as a Village Voice "Voice Choice for Art" and on their blog. [7] and which was accompanied by a 32-page catalog [8]. He is a graduate of Yale (BA) and USC School of Cinema-Television (MFA).