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Scot Armstrong

American screenwriter, director, and producer

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Scot Armstrong is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is credited with writing or co-writing numerous comedy films, including Old School, The Hangover: Part II, Semi-Pro, Road Trip, and many others. He is also the writer and director of the 2015 film, Search Party. The film was released in the US in May 2016. Also in 2016, his TV series, Dice, premiered on Showtime.

01Early life

Armstrong grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, in the western suburbs of Chicago. He attended Wheaton North High School where he wrestled. For his higher education, Armstrong enrolled in Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Armstrong at a USO performance for US troops in Romania in 2020
Armstrong at a USO performance for US troops in Romania in 2020

02Career

Armstrong started out working at an advertising agency in Chicago in his early 20s. While working there, he took night classes at The Second City and ImprovOlympic where he studied under Del Close. He also performed (and continues to perform) with the Upright Citizens Brigade in groups/shows including Mother, Feature Feature, Asscatt, and Soundtrack. During this time, he met Todd Phillips whom he hired to direct a commercial for Miller Genuine Draft. In 2000, the two released their first feature film together, Road Trip, which Armstrong co-wrote and Phillips directed.

Armstrong and Phillips would end up working on a variety of other films together including Old School (2003), Starsky & Hutch (2004), School for Scoundrels (2006), and The Hangover: Part II (2011). Outside of his partnership with Phillips, Armstrong was also responsible for uncredited rewrites of Elf and Bad Santa. In 2007, he co-wrote the Farrelly Brothers' film, The Heartbreak Kid. The following year, Semi-Pro, which was Armstrong's first solo-written film, was released.

In 2011, Armstrong announced the concept for his directorial debut, Road to Nardo. The film was set to begin production in 2011. Its name was changed to Search Party and the distribution rights were picked up by Universal in 2013. The film was eventually released in 2015 and was released in May 2016 in the United States. Armstrong's production company, American Work Inc., has also produced several films and TV shows including Hesher, NBC's Best Friends Forever, a TV series adaptation of Problem Child, and the USA Network's Playing House (among others).

In 2015, Showtime gave Armstrong's show, Dice, a straight-to-series order of six episodes. The series, which Armstrong writes, directs, and produces, follows the exploits of a fictional version of Andrew Dice Clay and premiered on Showtime in 2016.

Armstrong also co-hosts the UCB Sports & Leisure Podcast, alongside Matt Walsh.

03Filmography

Film

Year Title Director Producer Writer
2000 Road Trip Yes
2003 Old School Yes
2004 Starsky & Hutch Yes
2006 School for Scoundrels Yes
2007 The Heartbreak Kid Yes
2008 Semi-Pro Yes
2011 The Hangover: Part II Yes
2014 Search Party Yes Yes Yes

Executive producer

Uncredited rewrite

Television

Year Title Director Executive
Producer
Writer Notes
2012 Best Friends Forever Yes
Animal Practice Yes
2014-2017 Playing House Yes
2015 Problem Child Yes Yes
2016-2017 Dice Yes Yes Yes Creator
Watch videos about Scot ArmstrongExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Scot Armstrong, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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