In Memoriam: TSA Co-Founder Stephen Schaller

Writer/director Stephen Schaller (left) and actress Florence Gilbert Evans in the 1983 documentary, When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose.

The officers and board of the Tennessee Screenwriting Association regret to announce that one of the founders of the TSA, Stephen Schaller, passed away at his home in Nashville on July 15, 2026. He was 75 years old.

Stephen was a writer/director who came to Nashville in the early 1980s because he had family here and had heard there was a vibrant, emerging filmmaking and screenwriting community. He quickly became a pivotal part of that community and was an essential founding member of the Tennessee Screenwriting Association.

From IMDB:

In the early 1980s, documentary filmmaker Stephen Schaller was instrumental in the rediscovery and restoration of The Lumberjack, the oldest surviving film made in Wisconsin and produced by a group of itinerant filmmakers who traveled from town to town making "local talent" pictures. Schaller's lovely and sometimes deeply emotional, film offers a look at the making of the Wausau, Wisconsin classic, including interviews with the one surviving cast member and the relatives of others who appeared in the movie. His investigation includes moving remembrances of the people and town of Wausau as it was and even reveals the on-set accidental death of one of The Lumberjack's top cameramen. More than just a piece of local history, When You Wore A Tulip and I Wore A Big Red Rose is also of interest to anyone who cares about film history and preservation. Discovering Schaller's gentle, artful movie is just as exciting as finding a lost family album.

Stephen Schaller's film, When You Wore A Tulip and I Wore A Big Red Rose can be streamed for free on Kanopy.

The leadership of the TSA is grateful for Stephen's role in helping form and build our organization... may he rest in peace.