Early years

“	I felt like I was too young, and I didn’t have anything to make movies about. So very specifically, I went to Pomona to get a liberal arts education and not do filmmaking, even though I knew that was what I ultimately wanted to do.	”
— Taylor, in a 2005 interview for Pomona College Magazine

Taylor is a graduate of Bellevue High School and a 1984 graduate of Pomona College, a liberal arts school he attended instead of accepting an offer from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Career

Taylor began working for Cannon Films in 1987. After visiting China on an Avery Foundation grant, Taylor returned to L.A. and spent three years working with Ivan Passer; he also worked for Devon Foster, a director at HBO, as Foster's assistant.

Taylor met Payne while working temporary jobs in Los Angeles, eventually moving in with him for financial reasons. While roommates the two wrote short films and started writing Citizen Ruth. After winning money on the game show Wheel of Fortune, Taylor entered Tisch School of the Arts at the age of 30. He and Payne did further rewrites on Citizen Ruth while Taylor was a graduate student; the film got made during his third year there. Taylor received an M.F.A. in Filmmaking from New York University in 1996.

Awards and nominations

Taylor has received numerous awards and nominations, all shared with Alexander Payne and almost all for his work on Sideways:

Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Outcome
2002 USC Scripter Award	USC Scripter Award	(with Alexander Payne and Louis Begley, for About Schmidt)	Nominated
77th Academy Awards	Best Writing (adapted screenplay)	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
58th British Academy Film Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Writers Guild of America Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2004	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2004	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2004	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
62nd Golden Globe Awards	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
20th Independent Spirit Awards	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2004	Screenwriter of the Year	(with Alexander Payne)	Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2004	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
National Board of Review Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
National Society of Film Critics Awards 2004	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
2004 New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Golden Satellite Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2004	Best Adapted Screenplay	(with Alexander Payne)	Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]