Biography
In 2025, A.W. "Tony" Scott directed his first feature, "Higher Love", which he also wrote and produced. The film stars Dennis Haysbert, Marilu Henner, Joe Pantoliano and Telma Hopkins in the lead roles. The film was completed on time and at budget,
After a successful career as a consultant, executive and venture capitalist in the high tech industry around the world, Tony entered and completed the UCLA Graduate Film School's Professional Screenwriting and Writing for Television Programs. Tony also studied in the Directing Program at UCLA Extension, and has studied acting technique at Lewis Smith's Actor's Academy in Los Angeles.
With his writing and producing partner Jean Su, Tony focuses on creating grounded, character-driven stories, typically inspired by real people and events. A number of Tony's stories feature Asian or other diverse lead characters in cross-cultural settings. He has been involved personally and in business in Asia for nearly 30 years, and has basic conversational skills in Mandarin Chinese.
Since completing the UCLA Professional Screenwriting and Writing for Television Programs, all seven spec feature screenplays and three television pilots Tony has written to date have won awards in multiple screenplay competitions. Three of Tony's feature screenplays and one of his pilots have been optioned.
In 2013 while studying at UCLA, the Blacklist.com named Tony's screenplay "At Last" a Top 10 drama script. In 2015 his contained sci-fi thriller "Sentience" was named best feature screenplay in the Professional Screenwriting Program at UCLA. Tony has worked as a script consultant on numerous feature and television screenplays, and hired by financier/producers to write feature scripts. In 2018, a Singaporean financier/producer engaged Tony to write an action-thriller feature which is planned to be filmed in Singapore and Chongqing, China on a multi-million-dollar budget. In 2019 Tony was hired to write a feature screenplay based on a true story that occurred during the WWII Japanese occupation of the Philippines. In 2022 he was hired to write a satirical web series for a UK-based financial services software company, and in 2023 a European Director hired him to write synopses and scenes for several action-crime TV series.
As a Director, in 2017 Tony created and directed the six-episode web-series "Searching for Adrian Lester" to support the marketing and release of the feature "Grey Lady", which Broadvision Pictures produced in association with Beacon Pictures. He also directed two scenes for the stage in Northwestern University Entertainment Alliance's showcase, performed before sell-out crowds over two nights. In 2018, Tony created and directed a proof-of-concept reel for his production company Broadvision's unscripted docudrama series "Going Pro".
In 2019, Tony wrote and directed the dramatic short film "Together" as a proof of concept for his feature screenplay "Higher Love". The cast of "Together" includes Emmy winner Ken Estes as its lead, and Jason Olive and Kent Faulcon in key supporting roles (the male leads from the OWN Network television show "For Better or Worse", which ran for 162 episodes). "Together" was completed in March 2019, and has been selected for competition screenings by over 25 film festivals in the U.S. Asia, Europe and the Caribbean, including three Academy Award Qualifying Festivals for Short Films. "Together" has won accolades in the majority of these festivals for "Best Drama Short", "Best Narrative Film", "Best Narrative Short; "Most Inspiring Film", "Best Actor", "Best Actress", "Best Screenplay", "Best Screenwriter", "Best Score", "Best Producer" and "Best Director".
In 2020, Tony was hired to co-write and direct the satirical short "Representation Matters?", which has been selected to screen in competition in multiple festivals around the world, receiving nominations and awards including "Best Film", "Best Screenplay", "Best Actor", "Best Actress" (for both lead actresses) and "Best Director".
In 2021, Tony was hired to write and direct "Love in Action": a short to be used as a Corporate Image Ad.
Born in New Orleans, Tony is a rich gumbo of ethnicities and cultures, including Native American (the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians). He grew up in Mississippi and received a B.A. at the University of Mississippi, and a MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. He worked as a semi-professional jazz/funk/R&B musician to help pay his way through college and graduate school. He has lived and worked in Beijing, Chicago, London, Napa, Silicon Valley and Tokyo, and now resides in Los Angeles.
