Faculty

Profile

Greg Takoudes is a writer, filmmaker, and professor based in New York. He is Greek-American and as a child lived in Greece and throughout the United States, where his family owned and ran Greek pizza shops. He is a high school graduate of Milton Academy in Massachusetts—where he was a gymnast, wrestler, and captain of the debate team. He also completed a teen excursion of Outward Bound, a leader of experiential outdoor programs. 

In 1996, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with majors in English and Communications Arts (Film). He also studied at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in the Summer Cinema Studies program in New York City. Upon graduation, he lived in Los Angeles, where he worked on the set of Titanic and on the creative team of director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer’s film division of Imagine Entertainment. 

In 1999, Takoudes moved to New York, where he worked for many years as a freelance story consultant for film production companies and studios including Universal, Paramount, New Line, and others. He is the director and co-writer of the SXSW award-winning feature film Up with Me (distributed by IFC Films) and The Jonestown Defense. He currently has two drama films and a documentary television series in pre-production. Since 2013, he has been a part-time assistant professor at The New School, where he teaches undergraduate classes on directing, screenwriting, film production, and cinema studies. 

Takoudes is the author of the critically-acclaimed young adult novel When We Wuz Famous, published in 2013 by Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt Books for Young Readers and in 2015 by Square Fish/Macmillan Children’s Group in paperback. It was a Junior Library Guild selection and an American Library Association pick, and Takoudes received the prestigious annual Muriel Becker Award for Literary Excellence given by the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English. His debut novel was widely reviewed and he participated in a number of literary and school events. 

In 2019, Takoudes was commissioned to write The Collaborative Director with Routledge Press. It is a comprehensive book about directorial aesthetics and collaborative techniques in filmmaking. It also features interviews with many accomplished individuals in the film industry and is used by undergraduates around the world. He is working on another Routledge title for course adoption by film students. 

Takoudes lives in Brooklyn with his wife (a cookbook editor at Phaidon), a middle schooler, a high schooler, and an Aussie Collie pandemic puppy. He and his family are avid travelers and enjoy exploring the United States and other countries. He has completed the New York City Marathon several times and is a seasoned backwoods camping enthusiast. He and his wife are also active in the Tourette’s Syndrome Association community in the New York area.

Awards And Honors

Partial list for film:

South-by-Southwest Film Festival -- Special Jury Award

Urbanworld Film Festival -- Special Jury Award

LA Greek Film Festival -- Orpheus Award

Partial list for books:

winner of the 2015 Muriel Becker Award, The New Jersey Council of Teachers of English

Junior Library Guild selection

2014 YALSA Quick-Picks Nominee