Jody Hotchkiss was born in New Haven in 1955 and grew up in Greenwich. He went to St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. After failing his first pre-med course at Colby College he eventually graduated with a degree in art history.
He first eked out a living at the art book publisher Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House which became profitable only in later years when Potter published the first lifestyle books of little-known Westport resident Martha Stewart.
Jody left New York to volunteer in the Peace Corps building schools on the equator in Gabon, West Africa (and not a single day of his two years in Africa felt hotter than August in NYC).
Returning to New York Jody worked for studio boss Alan Ladd Jr. at MGM Studios, eventually becoming the VP of East Coast Production. With the sale of MGM to Ted Turner, Jody sensed that regime change was coming when the Academy Award winning producer Richard Zanuck and his wife Lilly waltzed into Jody’s office at 1350 Avenue of the Americas and started to measure for drapes (Really!). Jody then worked as a literary agent at Sterling Lord finding articles, books and plays to sell for TV and movies such as THE DAY AFTER and GOODFELLAS. After his Darien next door neighbor from Kanter Fitzgerald died on 9/11, Jody questioned his own life/career and opened Hotchkiss & Associates Literary Agency in New York. Now with the name Hotchkiss Daily & Associates the company has celebrated its 22nd anniversary, representing movies such as THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES, AMERICAN UNDERDOG: KURT WARNER, AMERICAN GANGSTER and THE WIZARD OF LIES: BERNIE MADOFF.
Jody has been married to his wife Kris for thirty four years (and friends still mix up their gender neutral names). He has three children—Sophie in Copenhagen, Graham in New York and Leah in Brooklyn. His grandchildren (so far) are Bjørn (7) and Ada (4). Jody especially loves cycling in Switzerland and France, sailing in Michigan, and kayaking in Long Island Sound.
