Spellbound

Blitz’s first work out of film school at USC was the documentary Spellbound that he directed and photographed. He produced the film with his friend Sean Welch who also did production audio. They co-financed the project on a dozen credit cards and later enlisted USC classmate Yana Gorskaya to edit.^[6] It was her first professional editing assignment and she and Blitz worked on the movie the living room of his apartment.^[7] The film tracks eight teenagers on their quest to win the Scripps 1999 National Spelling Bee. The spellers were Harry Altman, Angela Arenivar, Ted Brigham, April DeGideo, Neil Kadakia, Nupur Lala, Emily Stagg, and Ashley White.^[8]

Spellbound received 17 awards and 19 nominations, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cultural & Artistic Programming^[9] (Blitz was also nominated for directing.)^[9] Yana Gorskaya's editing won the ACE Eddie award for best editing of documentary.^[9] It became an unexpected hit film at its first theatrical venue, the Film Forum in New York^[10] and went on to earn $5.8 million in the box office across the United States.^[11]

Kenneth Turan, the film critic for the Los Angeles Times said “Spellbound was one of the first unheralded documentaries to do well at the box office”.^[12] The films distributor THINKFilm noted “Spellbound was a milestone from which there would be no turning back”... “since then, the box office records for documentaries have been broken countless times”.^[13]

The film ended up on numerous lists of critics Top 10 films of that year including The New York Times, where it's described as “suspenseful, moving, funny and thrilling. In exploring an odd American subculture, it also paints a remarkably detailed picture of modern life in all its glory and eccentricity”.^[14]

In 2007, it was included as #4 of the "IDA's Top 25 Documentaries" of all-time by the members of the International Documentary Association.

Spellbound opened to positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 97%, based on reviews from 139 critics, and an average rating of 8.27/10.^[15] The website's critical consensus states, "A suspenseful, gripping documentary that features an engaging cross section of American children”.^[15] The New York Times described “Blitz's real achievement, though -- what makes the last 40 minutes of ''Spellbound'' not only exciting but also tremendously moving -- is his attention to the contestants and their families.”^[10] While The Austin Chronicle described “as good, old-fashioned drama goes, it doesn't get much better than Spellbound”.^[16]

Spellbound was one of a number of documentaries that are credited with re-energizing the form. It has been cited as inspiration for a slew of competition documentaries that have followed in its wake.^[12] Smithsonian Magazine described how Spellbound “sparked a whole genre, a series of documentaries that followed its path”.^[12]

Rocket Science

Inspired by his own experience as a person who stutters, Blitz then wrote and directed dramatic feature film Rocket Science. Rocket Science tells the story of Hal Hefner, a fifteen-year-old stutterer who joins his school's debate team when he develops a crush on its star member.^[17] Speaking to The Stuttering Foundation, Blitz described one moment he kept in mind as he wrote the film: his first high school debate tournament.^[18] Blitz noted “I blocked on my very first word and stayed blocked on it for the entire 8 minutes I was allocated. I tried to never forget the frustration (and, in a dark way, the humor) of that moment”.^[18]

The film stars Anna Kendrick who earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female.^[19]

Rocket Science premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2007 where Blitz won the Dramatic Directing Prize.^[1] Rocket Science was also nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards including Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay.^[1]

Director Jason Reitman saw Rocket Science at Sundance while he was writing Up In The Air. He immediately began rewriting to include a part for Anna Kendrick based on her Rocket Science character.^[20]

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film 84% from 111 critic reviews, with the critics consensus stating, "Rocket Science is a quirky gem packed with brilliant indie charm carried along by a great narrative and an amazing soundtrack."^[21]

The Office

Blitz’s first directing work in scripted television was on The Office. In 2009, he won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for his work on the episode Stress Relief.^[22] The episode featured one of the series most memorable cold opens in which Dwight stages a fake fire that leads to Stanley having a heart attack. In a desperate attempt to “Save Bandit” Angela launches her cat into the ceiling so Oscar could save her cat. On their podcast Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey discuss how Blitz fought hard to have the moment where the cat goes up into the ceiling and then out a different part of the ceiling.^[23][24] Blitz was sure to thank the cat in his Emmy acceptance speech.^[22]

‘Stress Relief’ is credited with helping to save a life after an Arizona man, despite having no CPR training, managed to resuscitate a woman in medical distress by performing chest compressions to the cadence of “Stayin’ Alive” as he learned from the episodes CPR demonstration.^[23][25][26]

Blitz directed a total of 11 episodes of The Office over its nine season run.^[27]

Television Pilots/Series

Additional Work

Major Award Bodies

Other Awards