
Robert Nelson Jacobs
Writing
Biography
Robert Nelson Jacobs is an American screenwriter. In 2000, he received an Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay for Chocolat. In 2014, Jacobs was elected president of the Writers Guild Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting and preserving the craft of writing for the screen. He attended Yale University, where he received the Curtis Literary Prize for his short fiction and graduated with honors. He earned his master's degree from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Jacobs began his career as a writer of short stories that were published in little, prestigious magazines that generated little, prestigious income. Jacobs’ love of movies brought him to California, where it took a number of years for his work to finally start paying the rent. Jacobs’ screenplay credits include Out to Sea, Dinosaur, Chocolat, The Shipping News, Flushed Away, The Water Horse, and Extraordinary Measures.
Known For

London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for a madcap adventure deep in the sewer bowels of Ratropolis, where Roddy meets the resourceful Rita, the rodent-hating Toad and his faithful thugs, Spike and Whitey.
Flushed Away

An orphaned dinosaur raised by lemurs joins an arduous trek to a sancturary after a meteorite shower destroys his family home.
Dinosaur

In the winter of 1959, a single mother and her young daughter arrive in a rural French town, where they open an unusual chocolate shop that disrupts the moral fiber of the strictly Catholic townsfolk and mayor.
Chocolat

An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.
The Shipping News

A lonely boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches a sea creature of Scottish legend.
The Water Horse

Working-class father John Crowley is finally on the fast track to corporate success when his two young children are diagnosed with Pompe disease—a condition that prevents the body from breaking down sugar. With the support of his wife, John ditches his career and teams with unconventional specialist, Dr. Robert Stonehill to found a bio-tech company and develop a cure in time to save the lives of his children. As Dr. Stonehill works tirelessly to prove the theories that made him the black sheep of the medical community, a powerful bond is forged between the two unlikely allies.
Extraordinary Measures

Care-free Charlie cons his widower brother-in-law Herb into an expenses-paid luxury cruise in search of rich, lonely ladies. The catch is that they are required to be dance hosts! With a tyrannical cruise director, and the luscious Liz and lovely Vivian, our heroes have lots of mis-adventures before they finally return to port.
Out to Sea
A best-agers comedy about former Broadway stars at a retirement home who decide to put on a show.