Skip Schoolnik
Skip Schoolnik was the associate producer of Torchwood: Miracle Day. He has worked with Miracle Day producer, Kelly A. Manners, on a number of projects in the 2000s, including Angel, the pilot of Sons of Anarchy, and K-Ville. Immediately prior to Torchwood, he was associate producer on The Walking Dead. Although Schoolnik has worked in a variety of different genres, his work does show a bias for the horror genre, as he has edited in both the Halloween and Amityville Horror franchises, directed a low-budget slasher pic, and produced mainstream television shows with strong horror elements.
Schoolnik has enjoyed a long and varied career in film and television that stretches back to the 1970s. At various points an editor, director and producer, School has considerable credits in each major above the line discipline.
Editor
As an editor, he had a steady 20 year career from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. He appears to be one of the many people in Hollywood who was given an early break by Roger Corman. Schoolnik's first editing credit on a theatrical release is as an assistant editor on Corman's Eat My Dust starring Ron Howard. This was swiftly followed by a full editing credit on the Rock Hudson 1978 disaster pic, Avalanche. After this editorial start, Schoolnik tended to edit two or three TV movies a year, but occasionally worked on the odd series episode or theatrical movie. His highest-profile job as editor may have been one of his very first, as he was one of the editors of Halloween II. His editorial gigs with with DWU connections include collaboration with Doctor Who executive producer, Alex Beaton, on Knight Rider 2010 — another failed attempt to revive a flagging science fiction franchise. He also edited at least one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer called "The Harvest", which featured the work Miracle Day make-up department head, Todd McIntosh (but which pre-dated Kelly A Manners' involvement on the programme).
Director
Generally speaking, Schoolnik's directing career happened from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s and was confined to two series: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction and Angel. However, he is somewhat known amongst horror buffs for his 1988 theatrical release, Hide and Go Shriek.
Producer
Schoolnik has been credited as an associate producer as far back as 1986s Kung Fu: The Movie, which he also edited. Indeed, prior to 1999, all his producing credits are on TV movies he also edited. However, with Angel, his primary contribution to a project became that of co-producer. Since about 1999, he has mainly been a producer of some type, and mainly on Kelly Manners' projects.
