American Splendor
Harvey Pekar's autobiographical comics, adapted as a film that lets its subject narrate his own dramatization.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Academy Award nominee · WGA winner · Sundance Grand Jury Prize
Rowhouse Films
New York
Selected film and television work by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.
Feature Films
6 Titles
The Nanny Diaries
An anthropology graduate takes a job on the Upper East Side and studies the household from inside it.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
The Extra Man
An aspiring playwright moves in with an eccentric older gentleman who escorts wealthy women on the Upper East Side.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini · Screenplay by Robert Pulcini, Jonathan Ames & Shari Springer Berman · Executive produced by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Girl Most Likely
A stalled New York playwright is returned, unwillingly, to her mother's house in Ocean City.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Ten Thousand Saints
Adopted teenagers, straight-edge hardcore, and the vanishing East Village of the late 1980s.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Sundance Film Festival premiere, 2015
Things Heard & Seen
A marriage relocates to a Hudson Valley farmhouse that keeps a record of everything that happened in it.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Television
10 Titles
Cinema Verite
The making of An American Family — the 1973 series that put a household on camera and invented reality television.
Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Primetime Emmy winner · 9 Emmy nominations
The New Yorker Presents
Amazon's screen adaptation of the magazine, moving between documentary, fiction, essay and reportage. Their segment stars Paul Giamatti.
Segment directed and written by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini — “Le Café de Balzac”
Shameless
The Gallagher family of the South Side, across eleven seasons.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
“You'll Know the Bottom When You Hit It” (S9E12)
Series-wide: 4 Emmy wins · 16 Emmy nominations
Succession
A media dynasty at war with itself.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
“Safe Room” (S2E4) · “Lion in the Meadow” (S3E4) · “Tailgate Party” (S4E7)
Series-wide: 19 Emmy wins · 9 Golden Globe wins
Night Sky
A couple in rural Illinois guard a chamber that opens onto another world. With Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
“Boilermakers” (S1E4)
WeCrashed
The rise and collapse of WeWork, with Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
“The One with All the Money” (S1E8, finale)
Fleishman Is in Trouble
A Manhattan divorce told from one side, then unmade by the other.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Series-wide: 7 Emmy nominations
Only Murders in the Building
Three true-crime obsessives share an Upper West Side building — and a body.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Series-wide: 7 Emmy wins · 61 Emmy nominations
The Four Seasons
Three couples, four vacations, and the quiet arithmetic of long friendship.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Series-wide: 2 Emmy nominations
Vladimir
A campus novel adapted for television.
Episodes directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Awards & Recognition
IndexSelected Awards — Berman & Pulcini
Recognition for the filmmakers and their direct work. American Splendor: 31 wins / 50 nominations. Cinema Verite: 7 wins / 34 nominations.
- Academy AwardsBest Adapted ScreenplayRobert Pulcini & Shari Springer BermanNomineeAmerican Splendor
- Writers Guild of AmericaAdapted ScreenplayRobert Pulcini & Shari Springer BermanWinnerAmerican Splendor
- Sundance Film FestivalGrand Jury Prize, DramaticWinnerAmerican Splendor
- Cannes Film FestivalFIPRESCI Prize, Un Certain RegardWinnerAmerican Splendor
- Los Angeles Film Critics AssociationBest PictureWinnerAmerican Splendor
- Los Angeles Film Critics AssociationBest ScreenplayBerman & PulciniWinnerAmerican Splendor
- National Society of Film CriticsBest FilmWinnerAmerican Splendor
- National Society of Film CriticsBest ScreenplayBerman & PulciniWinnerAmerican Splendor
- New York Film Critics CircleBest First FilmBerman & PulciniWinnerAmerican Splendor
- Gotham AwardsBreakthrough DirectorBerman & PulciniWinnerAmerican Splendor
- AFI AwardsMovie of the YearWinnerAmerican Splendor
- Independent Spirit AwardsBest FeatureNomineeAmerican Splendor
- Independent Spirit AwardsBest DirectorBerman & PulciniNomineeAmerican Splendor
- Independent Spirit AwardsBest ScreenplayBerman & PulciniNomineeAmerican Splendor
- Golden Globe AwardsSupporting ActressHope DavisNomineeAmerican Splendor
- Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Single-Camera Picture EditingSarah Flack & Robert PulciniWinnerCinema Verite
- Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic SpecialShari Springer Berman & Robert PulciniNomineeCinema Verite
- Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Miniseries or MovieNomineeCinema Verite
- American Cinema EditorsBest Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for TelevisionSarah Flack & Robert PulciniWinnerCinema Verite
- Writers Guild of AmericaLong Form, OriginalDavid SeltzerWinnerCinema Verite
- GLAAD Media AwardsOutstanding TV Movie or Mini-SeriesWinnerCinema Verite
- Humanitas Prize90 Minute CategoryDavid SeltzerWinnerCinema Verite
Series-wide Recognition
Recognition belonging to series on which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini directed episodes. These awards were received by the series and their teams.
Succession
- Primetime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Drama Series — three-time winner
- Golden Globe Awards — Best Television Series, Drama — multiple wins
Only Murders in the Building
- Primetime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Comedy Series — multiple nominations
- Golden Globe Awards — 20 nominations, no wins to date
Fleishman Is in Trouble
- Primetime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series — Nominee
- Primetime Emmy Awards — Lead Actress, Lizzy Caplan — Nominee
- Primetime Emmy Awards — Supporting Actress, Claire Danes — Nominee
- Golden Globe Awards — Supporting Actress, Claire Danes — Nominee
The Four Seasons
- Primetime Emmy Awards — Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series — Colman Domingo — Nominee, 2025 and 2026
Shameless
- Primetime Emmy Awards — recognition belongs to the series and its company, not personally to Berman & Pulcini
Press
Selected CoverageSelected criticism, features and industry coverage.
- The New Yorker
- The New York Times
- Variety
- The Hollywood Reporter
- RogerEbert.com
“One of the best recent movies about filmmaking.”
The New Yorker
RogerEbert.com
“a great film”
Roger Ebert praised the film's singular way of telling Harvey Pekar's story.
The New Yorker
The New Yorker highlighted the film's blend of fiction, documentary, performance, and comic-book form.
The New York Times
For viewers who romanticize the old East Village, The New York Times called it “the movie of your dreams.”
The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter praised the film for resisting easy nostalgia despite its 1980s East Village setting.
Industry / Features
Variety
Variety announced Jessica Chastain and Chris Pine leading “This Is Pleasure,” directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, launching as a prestige project at the European Film Market.
BOMB Magazine
BOMB interviewed Berman and Pulcini on their inventive approach to adapting Harvey Pekar's work for the screen.
About
Rowhouse Films is the New York–based production company founded by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Working across independent film, documentary, and television, the company is known for character-driven storytelling and a body of work that moves fluidly between fiction and nonfiction forms.
Founders / Creative Principals
Shari Springer Berman
Founder / Writer / Director
Academy Award– and Emmy-nominated filmmaker whose work spans independent film, documentary, limited series, and episodic television.
Robert Pulcini
Founder / Writer / Director / Editor
Academy Award– and Emmy-recognized filmmaker and editor whose work spans independent film, documentary, limited series, and episodic television.
Their projects have been recognized by the Academy Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards, Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Writers Guild of America, Golden Globes, and major critics organizations. Their credits span feature films, limited series, and episodic television for leading studios and platforms.
This site presents a selected catalogue of their work and recognition.
Antonio Pulcini — Strategy & Development. Brand positioning, audience development, and catalog strategy.