After relocating to New York from his native Houston, Schlamme began his career directing cutting-edge music videos in the 1980s then moved on to direct comedy specials for HBO, working with such talent as Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, Robert Klein and John Leguizamo, among others. Shifting to episodic television, Schlamme produced and directed Tracey Ullman's critically acclaimed series "Tracey Takes On...," for which he received an Emmy Award. He has also directed numerous episodes of such hit television series as "Mad About You," "Friends," "The Larry Sanders Show," "Ally McBeal," "The Practice," "Chicago Hope" and "ER," for which he won an Emmy nomination for his direction of the live episode. Schlamme has also worked on hit series such as "Spin City," "The Larry Sanders Show," and "Boston Public," along with "Sports Night," "The West Wing," and "Studio 60." Most recently he directed the pilot for NBC's much-anticipated "Parenthood."

He has won a total of nine Emmy Awards.

His feature film directing credits include "So I Married an Axe Murderer" starring Mike Myers, "You So Crazy" starring Martin Lawrence, and "Miss Firecracker" starring Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins. Telefilm credits include "Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long" starring John Goodman, and "Crazy from the Heart" starring Christine Lahti, both for TNT.

He continues to develop projects under his company, Shoe Money Productions.