Best Writers
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Graham Moore was born on 18 October 1981 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Imitation Game (2014), The Outfit (2022) and Emmerdale Farm (1972).- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
John Ridley is the author of seven published novels, the most recent, What Fire Cannot Burn from Warner Books and The Drift from Knopf. His first novel, Stray Dogs, was made into the feature film U Turn (1997) directed by Oliver Stone and starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, and Nick Nolte. Additionally, Ridley wrote the screenplays for the films Undercover Brother (2002) and Cold Around the Heart (1997) and wrote the story for Three Kings (1999).
He is a playwright as well and in 2005 produced the world premiere of his first play, Ten Thousand Years. Ridley is also a commentator for National Public Radio and a regular contributor to California Connected (2002), an award-winning, news magazine which airs throughout California on 12 Public Television stations. He was the host of Movie Club with John Ridley (2004) on AMC, a unique movie review program with a panel of critics.
Ridley also wrote, directed, and produced the popular TV show, Barbershop (2005) formerly on Showtime.- Writer
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Chris Terrio is an American filmmaker and screenwriter who had written the Ben Affleck film Argo and the Zack Snyder DC Extended Universe films Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League before Joss Whedon rewrote the script during re-shoots when Snyder stepped down as director. Terrio's original screenplay was restored for Zack Snyder's Justice League, a critically acclaimed director's cut of the panned film.For Argo (2012)- Producer
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- Writer
Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest of three brothers.
Alexander attended Stanford University, where he majored in Spanish and History. He then went on to study film at UCLA Film School. His university thesis film was screened at the Sundance film festival, which led to him being backed by Miramax to write and direct Citizen Ruth (1996). Payne prefers to have control over his movies, from scripts to cast.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Nathaniel Wales Faxon was born on October 11, 1975 in Boston, Massachusetts. He spent his childhood living in the seaside community of Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. He joined the Brookwood School while in Boston, and then attended the Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire; he also graduated from same school. He was famous for his comedy within his friends.
In 1997, he attended Hamilton College, and in 2001, began performing with the renowned Improv comedy troupe The Groundlings. In 2002 he appeared in comedy film Orange County, and has showed his potential in other movies like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Bad Teacher. His biggest hit films include The Descendants and The Way Way Back, for which he was nominated for various awards. He has won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing The Descendants, and a Newport Beach Film Festival Audience Award for The Way Way Back.- Actor
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- Writer
Jim Rash was born on 15 July 1971 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Way Way Back (2013), Community (2009) and The Descendants (2011).- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Aaron Sorkin grew up in Scarsdale, a suburb of New York City where he was very involved in his high school drama and theater club. After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater, Sorkin intended to pursue a career in acting. It took him only a short time to realize that his true love, and his true talent, lay in writing. His first play, "Removing All Doubt", was not an immediate success, but his second play, "Hidden in This Picture", debuted in 1988 at the West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theater Bar. A longer version of "Hidden in This Picture", called "Making Movies", opened at the Promenade Theater in 1990. Despite his youth and relative inexperience, Sorkin was about to break into the spotlight. In 1989, he received the prestigious Outer Critics Circle award as Outstanding American Playwright for the stage version of A Few Good Men (1992), which was later nominated for a Golden Globe. The idea for the plot of "A Few Good Men" came from a conversation with his older sister, Deborah. Deborah was a Navy Judge Advocate General lawyer sent to Guantanamo Bay on a case involving Marines accused of killing a fellow Marine. Deborah told Aaron of the case and he spent the next year and a half writing a Broadway play, which later led to the movie. Sorkin has gone on to write for many movies and TV shows. Besides A Few Good Men (1992), he has written The American President (1995) and Malice (1993), as well as cooperating on Enemy of the State (1998), The Rock (1996) and Excess Baggage (1997). In addition, he was invited by Steven Spielberg to "polish" the script of Schindler's List (1993). Sorkin's TV credits include the Golden Globe-nominated The West Wing (1999) and Sports Night (1998).- Writer
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Initially working with a video camera and cast of toys and action figures, Geoffrey Fletcher began making films as a child. Those films in part led to his acceptance to NYU's Tisch Graduate Film Program, which he attended after his graduation from Harvard University. He has also apprenticed under Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee. Magic Markers, a short film Geoffrey wrote, directed, shot and edited, received accolades from numerous organizations including the Directors Guild of America and the Sundance Film Festival.
Geoffrey is the screenwriter of Precious (2009): Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire and received an Oscar for Writing (Adapted Screenplay) from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on March 7, 2010. He is the first African American to win an Oscar for writing, directing, or producing. Precious (2009) was presented by executive producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry and released by Lionsgate in November of 2009. Precious (2009) won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. It is only the third film to do so in the Festival's twenty-five-year history. Precious (2009) also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, making it the only film to win the top prizes at both Sundance and Toronto.
In addition to being honored by the Academy, Geoffrey was heralded by Variety as one of its "10 Screenwriters to Watch." He also received the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay; the Black Reel Award for Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted and the Best Adapted Screenplay award from the Chlotrudis, AAFCA and the Satellite Awards.
Geoffrey has an extensive background in photography and editing, and served as an adjunct professor of film at Columbia University and New York University where he taught courses ranging from "Directing the Camera" to "Developing the Screenplay". His feature directorial debut is Violet & Daisy (2011).
It stars Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel, and the late James Gandolfini. Violet & Daisy (2011) received the Cinevation Award, given for imagination, inspiration and innovation in cinema from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Violet & Daisy (2011) was an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival as well.
Genres of Geoffrey's forthcoming films include social justice, science fiction, and horror. Trial By Fire, which Geoffrey wrote for Flashlight Films and director Ed Zwick, is about a landmark death penalty case and was released theatrically in 2019 with Laura Dern and Jack O'Connell starring.For Precious (2009)- Writer
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Born in Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire. He attended Malsis School in Cross Hills Ermysted's Grammar School at Skipton, later he attended Sedbergh School in Cumbria.
He has read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth.
In 2009 he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire, also winning a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award.- Producer
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- Director
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel married actress Frances McDormand in 1984 and had an adopted son.For No Country for Old Men (2007); shared with Ethan Coen- Producer
- Writer
- Director
The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel directed and Ethan produced - with both editing under the name of Roderick Jaynes; but in 2004 they started to share the three main duties plus editing. Each film bring its own quality, creativity, art and with one project more daring the other.
His film debut was in 1984 dark humored thriller Blood Simple (1984) starring Frances McDormand (Joel's wife) and M. Emmet Walsh in a deep story revolving a couple of romantic lovers followed by an insisting private eye. The film received critical acclaim, some award nominations to Ethan (best writing at the Film Independent Spirit Awards) and became a cult following over the years. Their second work was the comedy Raising Arizona (1987) starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter as a unusual couple trying to create their family by kidnapping babies from a rich family.
Miller's Crossing (1990) was the third film of the brothers, a mob drama with heavy influences from several criminal dramas and with a stellar cast that included Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Albert Finney, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro and Jon Polito (the latter three would become regular actors in the Coen's films).
Their views on the Hollywood era of the 1930's was the central theme is the great Barton Fink (1991), created from a writers block both brothers suffered during the making of their previous film. John Turturro stars as a writer who suffers from a breakdown when he's commissioned to a big budget Hollywood project. The film was a breakthrough for the Coens marking their first win at the Cannes Film Festival (Joel got the Palme d'Or) and the first time a film of their received Oscar nominations. The underrated comedy The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) was what followed; but no one could predict their next big and boldest move that would definitely put Ethan and Joel on the spotlight once and for all.
The comedy of errors Fargo (1996) was a huge critical and commercial success. With its crazed story of a man who hires two loonies to kidnap his own wife and a pregnant policewoman tracking the leads to the crime, Ethan and Joel came at their greatest moment that couldn't be missed. The film received several awards during award season and the Coen's got their first Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category. What came next was the underrated yet hilariously good The Big Lebowski (1998) starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, John Turturro and Steve Buscemi. Those masterpieces made their career in the late 1990's cementing the duo as one of the greatest writers and directors of their generation, if not, from all time.
The Odyssey retold for the 1930's in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000); the intelligent noir The Man Who Wasn't There (2001); the comedy Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and a remake The Ladykillers (2004) marked their way into the early 2000's. Certaintly of period of minor hits and some downer moments.
The big return was with the highly acclaimed No Country for Old Men (2007), where the brothers swooped at the Oscars with three wins: Best Picture, Screenplay and Writing, an adaptation from the Cormac McCarthy's novel.
A Serious Man (2009), Burn After Reading (2008), True Grit (2010), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Hail, Caesar! (2016) and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) were the subsequent films, all well received by audiences or got awards recognition, mostly nominations.
A shift from tone and career move was writing with other writers and for another directors: for Angelina Jolie's Unbroken (2014), for Spielberg in Bridge of Spies (2015) and George Clooney in Suburbicon (2017).
As for personal life, Ethan has been married to Tricia Cooke since 1990. Tricia works as an assistant editor in several of the Coen brothers films.For No Country for Old Men (2007); shared with Joel Coen- Writer
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William Monahan was born on 3 November 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Departed (2006), London Boulevard (2010) and Edge of Darkness (2010).- Writer
- Producer
Larry McMurtry was born on 3 June 1936 in Archer City, Texas, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Brokeback Mountain (2005), The Last Picture Show (1971) and Streets of Laredo (1995). He was married to Faye Kesey and Josephine Ballard. He died on 25 March 2021 in Archer City, Texas, USA.For Brokeback Mountain (2005); shared with Diana Ossana- Writer
- Producer
Diana Ossana was born on 24 August 1949 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Streets of Laredo (1995) and Dead Man's Walk (1996).For Brokeback Mountain (2005); shared with Larry McMurtry- Producer
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- Writer
Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest of three brothers.
Alexander attended Stanford University, where he majored in Spanish and History. He then went on to study film at UCLA Film School. His university thesis film was screened at the Sundance film festival, which led to him being backed by Miramax to write and direct Citizen Ruth (1996). Payne prefers to have control over his movies, from scripts to cast.For Sideways (2004); shared with Jim Taylor- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Jim Taylor was born in 1962 in Bellevue, Washington, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Election (1999), Sideways (2004) and About Schmidt (2002). He has been married to Tamara Jenkins since 2002. They have one child.For Sideways (2004); shared with Alexander Payne- Writer
- Casting Department
- Producer
Fran Walsh is a New Zealand writer and wife of New Zealand film director Peter Jackson. She co-wrote The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which is seen by many as Jackson's magnum opus and one of the most significant film series ever made. She also wrote The Hobbit trilogy, a prequel to Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, Mortal Engines, The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures, The Lovely Bones and Meet the Feebles.For The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003); shared with Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson- Writer
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Philippa Boyens is a New Zealand writer and producer who has co-written several of Peter Jackson's films. She co-wrote the Academy Award winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Hobbit trilogy which is a prequel to the Lord of the Rings films, The Lovely Bones, Mortal Engines, and the 2005 remake of King Kong. She also co-produced District 9.- Producer
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- Writer
Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The Return of the King receiving his most impressive collection of awards. This included three Academy Awards® (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture), two Golden Globes (Best Director and Best Motion Picture-Drama), three BAFTAs (Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Viewers' Choice), a Directors Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award.
As a follow up to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2005, Jackson directed, wrote, and produced King Kong, for Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $500 million and won three Oscars®.
Jackson previously received widespread acclaim for his 1994 feature Heavenly Creatures, which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Screenplay. Other film credits include The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox; the adult puppet feature Meet the Feebles; and Braindead, which won 16 international science fiction awards, including the Saturn. Jackson also co-directed the television documentary Forgotten Silver, which also hit the film festival circuit.
Jackson directed the Academy Award®-nominated The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of the acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold and produced the worldwide sci-fi hit District 9. He was a producer on Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 2011, with two more films set to come out in the future.
His most recent films include producer of 2018's action film Mortal Engines, based on a post-apocalyptic world where cities ride on wheels and consume each other to survive. Following Mortal Engines, he produced They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary on World War I with never-before-seen footage. BAFTA nominated the film for Best Documentary, and it won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing from the Motion Picture Sound Editors.
Jackson's next project is the music documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which he directed and produced, due to be released August, 2021.
Jackson works closely with partner Dame Fran Walsh, with whom he shares his writing and producing credits, as well as a family. Jackson has a special interest in WWI memorabilia and is the proud owner of several aircraft from that era.For The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003); shared with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens- Writer
- Actor
- Script and Continuity Department
Born in Cape Town, Union of South Africa in 1934, Ronald Harwood moved to London in 1951 to pursue a career in the theatre. After attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he joined the Shakespeare Company of Sir Donald Wolfit, one of the last 'actor-manager' of Great-Britain. From 1953 to 1958, Harwood became the personal dresser of Sir Donald. He would later draw from this experience in his play 'The Dresser' and write a biography 'Sir Donald Wolfit CBE: His life and work in the Unfashionable Theatre'.
In 1960, he started a new career as a writer and would prove to be quite prolific, penning plays, novels and non-fiction books. He also worked often as a screenwriter but he seldom wrote original material directly for the screen, rather acting as an adapter sometimes of his own work.
One of the recurring themes in Harwood's work is his fascination for the stage, its artists and artisans as displayed in the aforementioned 'The Dresser', his plays 'After the Lions' (about Sarah Bernard) ,'Another time' (about a gifted piano player), 'Quartet' (about aging opera singers) and his non-fiction book 'All the world's a stage', a general history of theater. Harwood also has a strong interest in the WWII period, as highlighted by the films 'Operation daybreak', 'The Statement', 'The Pianist', and his play turned to film 'Taking sides'. Based on true stories, the two last films feature once again musicians as their main characters.
Made Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1974 and Commander of the British Empire in 1999, Harwood was president of the international PEN Club from 1993 to 1997 after presiding the British section during the four previous years.- Producer
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Akiva Goldsman was born on 7 July 1962 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for A Beautiful Mind (2001), Batman & Robin (1997) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022).- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Stephen Gaghan was born on 6 May 1965 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Syriana (2005), Traffic (2000) and Dolittle (2020). He has been married to Minnie Mortimer since 19 May 2007. They have two children.For Traffic (2000)- Director
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John Irvin is a British director who has made more than thirty motion pictures in his career so far.
Born in England, Irvin began his career working for British Movietone News. He directed his first film "Gala Day" a documentary financed by the British Film Institute which was bought by the BBC. Within the same year his documentary "Inheritance" was released, winning a British Film Academy Award.
Throughout the Sixties, Irvin made numerous award-winning documentaries for his own company Mithras Films, the BBC and ITV; culminating in the Omnibus film "Beautiful, Beautiful" (1969) about war photographers, featuring Don McCullen, Larry Burrows, and Eugene Smith shot in Vietnam and New York.
At the start of the Seventies Irvin began a career in Television Drama with "Captain Cook" for Time-Life BBC, the pilot for the BAFTA award-winning series "Explorers". Irvin then directed the multi-award winning TV Dramas "The Nearly Man" and "Hard Times" for Granada TV and the hugely successful "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" for the BBC starring Alec Guinness. At this time Hollywood beckoned.
For the next thirty years Irvin made, and is still making, feature films for cinema and television release, he has worked for most of the major studios. His first theatrical motion picture "Dogs Of War" (1980) starring Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger, concerns a military coup in an African country. Irvin followed this with the successful horror film "Ghost Story (1981) starring Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and John Houseman. The film was the third highest grossing horror film of its year.
Next, Irvin made the biographical film "Champions" (1984) starring John Hurt. "Turtle Diary" (1985) was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter and starred Ben Kingsley, Glenda Jackson and Michael Gambon. Then "Raw Deal" (1986) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Hamburger Hill (1987) starring Don Cheadle, Dylan McDermott, Michael Boatman, Steven Weber and Courtney B. Vance was a very realistic interpretation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War and is considered one of the most visually effective Vietnam War films. Irvin then made the crime thriller "Next Of Kin" (1989) starring Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson. "Eminent Domain" (1991) starred Donald Sutherland and Anne Archer. Next "Robin Hood" (1991) starred Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman. "Widows Peak" (1993) starring Mia Farrow, Joan Plowright, Natasha Richardson Jim Broadbent and Adrian Dunbar. Then "A Month By The Lake" (1994) starring Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox and Uma Thurman. etc... In a newly published anthology of war films, Irvin's "Hamburger Hill" and "When Trumpets Fade"(HBO) were cited as two of the greatest war films ever made.
More recently Irvin has been making indie pictures in Europe. These include "Shiner" (2000) starring Michael Caine, "The Boys and Girl from County Clare" (2003) starred Andrea Corr and Colm Meaney. "The Moon And The Stars" (2006) starring Alfred Molina, Catherine McCormack and Jonathan Pryce.
Irvin now lives in London and is co-founder with producer Claire Evans of DearHeart Productions. "Mandela's' Gun" was their first feature. Developed and researched by John and Claire, it took five years to produce and was shot in 6 countries. It is now a major feature film due for release in the autumn of 2018. DearHeart Productions have a three picture slate of films in development and have just completed pre-production on their next feature "Goose Green" an epic British war film about the battle for Goose green during the Falklands War of 1982.- Director
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- Producer
Bill Condon was born on 22 October 1955 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Dreamgirls (2006), Gods and Monsters (1998) and Kinsey (2004).- Director
- Producer
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After small films like The Bedroom Window (1987) and Sweet Kill (1972), Curtis Hanson went on to direct major features including The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), The River Wild (1994) and the Academy Award-winning L.A. Confidential (1997). Setting his sights on another city, Hanson was critically acclaimed for directing Eminem in Universal Pictures' 8 Mile (2002), which co-starred Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer and many Detroit-based actors.For L.A. Confidential (1997); shared with Brian Helgeland