Tom Musca

Tom Musca (born 1951) is an American filmmaker and professor.

Biography
Musca received a BA from Rutgers University in 1973 and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1981.

Musca's best known work was as the writer and producer of Stand and Deliver in 1988. The film was nominated for seven Independent Spirit Awards and won six, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay honors for Musca. Additionally, Edward James Olmos, was nominated for an Oscar and an Academy Award for his role in the film. Stand and Deliver is preserved in the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.

He has gone on to write, produce and direct for film, television and the theater. Musca was a co-writer and producer for Money for Nothing with John Cusack, James Gandolfini, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Benicio del Toro and Tortilla Soup starring Hector Elizondo and Raquel Welch. He wrote and directed Melting Pot aka Race starring Paul Rodriguez and was a writer for Gotta Kick It Up! starring America Ferrara.

Since 2010 Musca has been the head of the MFA Screenwriting track and Professor of Professional Practice at the University of Miami School of Communication. In 2020 he wrote, produced and directed Chateau Vato, a rags to riches comedy set in Miami. On March 9, 2023, he premiered Dying To Direct, a short film based on one of his short stories at the 40th Annual Miami Film Festival, which he wrote, produced and co-directed.

Filmography

 * Little Nikita (story) 1988
 * Stand and Deliver (writer/producer) 1988
 * Money for Nothing (writer/producer) 1993
 * Melting Pot (film) aka Race (writer/director) 1998
 * Flight of Fancy aka Facing Fear (writer/producer/second unit director) 2000
 * Tortilla Soup (writer, producer) 2001
 * Gotta Kick it Up! Writer (2001)
 * Make Love Great Again (producer, additional writing, actor) 2018
 * Chateau Vato (writer/director/producer) 2020
 * Amaraica (producer) 2021
 * Dying to Direct (writer, director, producer) 2023