Aaron Brookner was born in New York and began his career in the film industry as an assistant to Rebecca Miller and Jim Jarmusch. Between 2005 and 2009 he directed a documentary about the final days of writer Budd Schulberg. He wrote and directed the feature film The Silver Goat in 2011. He is the author of several screenplays and a novel. His latest film, Uncle Howard, premiered in the Sundance Festival of 2016.