Olivier Assayas, the son of respected French director/screenwriter Jacques Remy, was born in Paris, France. Growing up around film studios, he developed an early interest in filmmaking, but instead opted to study literature and painting. When his father became ill, Assayas helped him, first as a secretary, then ghostwriting several scripts for the TV series Maigret. In 1985, Assayas began screenwriting. He collaborated with André Téchiné on the scripts for Rendezvous (1985) and Scene of the Crime (1986). In 1986, Assayas directed his first feature, the stylized teen psychodrama Désordre (1986), which won the Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival. He came to the attention of North American film audiences with his third film, Paris S'Eveille (1991), which screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York and won the Prix Jean Vigo at the festival of the same name.