Oz Rodriguez

Film, Class of 2003

LAFS Alumni Oz Rodriguez

Emmy-winning director Oz Rodriguez has written and directed video shorts since he got his start at Funny or Die. As a creative force in the sketch comedy world, Oz worked his way up to segment director and producer at SNL and has been with the show for nearly a decade. Oz turned his knowledge of SNL into a popular behind-the-scenes nonfiction series called Creating Saturday Night Live.

“My directing style is trying to conduct this orchestra to do their best performance. I want to empower people to do their best. I like to have a lot of collaboration and discussion about what the end goal is.”

Over the years, Oz has worked on more than 50 episodes of SNL and directed the Emmy®-winning show Creating Saturday Night Live, which documents the making of America’s most iconic sketch comedy TV series. Rodriguez’s work has earned multiple major industry honors. He won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2019 for Creating Saturday Night Live in the category of Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series. He was also nominated for Primetime Emmys in 2017 and 2018 for his work on the same series, recognized in both the Short Form Nonfiction and Short Form Variety categories. In 2025, he was nominated for a Gotham TV Award for Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music, in the category of Outstanding Original Film, Broadcast, or Streaming. Earlier in his career, Rodriguez received an ALMA Award nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Director of a Television Series for his work on Funny or Die Presents.

Read more on Oz’s IMDB Page.

Latest news featuring Oz Rodriguez:

2018 Emmy winners

LAFS ALUMNI WIN AT THE 2018 EMMYS

Congrats to our 17 Alumni who worked on 6 productions that won 27 awards. Many of our alumni from The Los Angeles Film School worked on Emmy-winning shows. A special shout-out to our 2004 Recording School alumnus, Jordan Wilby, who won…

Alumni Worked On 20 Emmy-Nominated Shows

Our alumni have worked on 20 Emmy-Nominated Shows, which collectively have amassed 136 nominations this year. Congratulations! Saturday Night Live Alec Nickel Program: Film, 2014 Camera Assistant Osmany Rodriguez Program: Film, 2004 Writer…