screenwriters
List activity
122 views
• 4 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
21 people
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Writer, director, and producer Nicolas Winding Refn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1970, to Anders Refn, a film director and editor, and Vibeke Winding (née Tuxen), a cinematographer. Just before he turned 11, in 1981, he moved to New York with his parents, where he lived out his teen years. New York quickly became his city and soon began to shape Nicolas' future.
At seventeen, Nicolas moved back to his native Copenhagen to complete his high-school Education. After graduation, he swiftly flew back to New York, where he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. However, this education was cut short when Nicolas threw a desk at a classroom wall and was expelled from the Academy. Consequently, he applied to the Danish Film School and was readily accepted. This education too was to be short-lived, though, as one month prior to the start of the semester, Nicolas dropped out.
A short film Nicolas had written, directed, and starred in was aired on an obscure cable TV channel and lead to the offer of a life-time. Nicolas was spotted and offered 3.2 million kroners to turn the short into a feature. At only twenty-four, Nicolas had written and directed the extremely violent and uncompromising Pusher (1996), which became a cult phenomenon and won Nicolas instant international critical acclaim. The success of his debut spurred him to push the boundaries of his creative filmmaking further, which resulted in the close-to-the-edge and intricately gritty Bleeder (1999). Highly stylized and focused on introverted reactions to outward situations, this film was a marking point for the shaping of Nicolas's future career. The movie was selected for the 1999 Venice International Film Festival as well as winning the prestigious FIPRESCI Prize in Sarajevo.
Nicolas's fourth feature, the much-anticipated Fear X (2003) was also his first foray into English-language movies. Starring the award-winning actor John Turturro, "Fear X" made its world premiere at the Sundance Film festival. However, Fear X divided critics and it flopped, which made Nicolas Winding Refn broke and in debt.
Having to provide for his family and paying his debt, he returned to Denmark to revisit "Pusher." Refn was reluctant to revisit his past success but decided that he could both make commercially viable and artistically pleasing films. In just two years he managed to write, direct and produce the two sequels. Pusher II (2004) and Pusher III (2005) sealed the box and success of the internationally renowned "Pusher" trilogy. In 2005, the Toronto Film Festival held a "Pusher" retrospective showing all three features cementing its worldwide phenomenon.
In 2006 Nicolas embarked on a second English-language (and first digital) feature called Valhalla Rising (2009), which was inspired by a story his mother read to him at the age of five about a father and son who embark on a trip to the moon. Not recalling the ending of this story has been a long time fascination of Nicolas's with the unknown. During the pre-production on "Valhalla Rising," his long time collaborator and friend, Rupert Preston, urged him into accepting an offer to write and direct Bronson (2008), an ultra-violent, surreal, and escapist film following the real-life landmarks and self-entrapment of Charles Bronson, Britain's most notorious criminal. Before its cinematic release, "Bronson" was making waves inside and outside the film industry. The 2009 Sundance Film Festival selected the blistering film for its World Cinema Dramatic Competition and it soon became the talk of the festival. With such a prestigious premiere, "Bronson" went on to be selected for other major international film festivals and reap strong box-office rewards. But, even with such a buzz surrounding the film, no one could predict how the British press would bite at "Bronson's" bit. The content was close to the knuckle, the subject matter controversial, but Nicolas's take on this was even more inspired leading him to be labeled by the British media as the next great European auteur.
With such critical acclaim, Nicolas's reputation as a producer, writer and director was solidly reaffirmed. Nicolas and his wife Liv Corfixen were the subjects of an acclaimed documentary, Gambler (2006), which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2005. In addition, Nicolas already received two lifetime-achievement awards (one from the Taipei International Film festival in 2006 and the second from the Valencia International Film Festival in 2007), and it was the winner of the Emerging Master Award from the Philadelphia International Film Festival 2005.- Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Bryan Elsley was born on 17th of May 1961. He spent most of his childhood in the Edinburgh satellite town of Dalkeith. After graduating, he studied English and History at York University.
It was here he met a young student named Harry Enfield. The two of them shared a passion for taking the mickey and decided to form a comedy duo- which became known as 'Dusty and Dick'. 'Dusty and Dick's Lucky Escape
After parting from Enfield, Elsley took up a career in theatrical direction, then theatrical writing, then television writing. His seminal short film 'Govan Ghost Story' paved the way for other writing jobs on British serials. It was not, however, until his award winning adaptation of Ian Bank's 'The Crow Road' that Elsley began to be noticed, and has written several original series and films since then, including '40 with Eddie Izzard and 'Rose and Maloney' with Sarah Lancashire.
Bryan Elsley has three children. He lives in Islington, London.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of 1992, first-time writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award. At the 1995 Academy Awards, it was nominated for the best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Tarantino and writing partner Roger Avary came away with the award only for best original screenplay. In 1995, Tarantino directed one fourth of the anthology Four Rooms (1995) with friends and fellow auteurs Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Allison Anders. The film opened December 25 in the United States to very weak reviews. Tarantino's next film was From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), a vampire/crime story which he wrote and co-starred with George Clooney. The film did fairly well theatrically.
Since then, Tarantino has helmed several critically and financially successful films, including Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015).- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbeliard, France, the son of Hungarian parents who had fled Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to America as an infant, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High School. His first job in movies was as a production assistant on the 1981 low-budget film, Hell Night (1981), starring Linda Blair. He spent the next six years working in the art department as a set dresser and in set construction while struggling to establish himself as a writer. His first produced writing credit (shared) was on the 1987 film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), directed by Chuck Russell. Darabont is one of only six filmmakers in history with the unique distinction of having his first two feature films receive nominations for the Best Picture Academy Award: 1994's The Shawshank Redemption (1994) (with a total of seven nominations) and 1999's The Green Mile (1999) (four nominations). Darabont himself collected Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for each film (both based on works by Stephen King), as well as nominations for both films from the Director's Guild of America, and a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for The Shawshank Redemption (1994). He won the Humanitas Prize, the PEN Center USA West Award, and the Scriptor Award for his screenplay of "The Shawshank Redemption". For "The Green Mile", he won the Broadcast Film Critics prize for his screenplay adaptation, and two People's Choice Awards in the Best Dramatic Film and Best Picture categories. The Majestic (2001), starring Jim Carrey, was released in December 2001. He executive-produced the thriller, Collateral (2004), for DreamWorks, with Michael Mann directing and Tom Cruise starring. Future produced-by projects include "Way of the Rat" at DreamWorks with Chuck Russell adapting and directing the CrossGen comic book series and "Back Roads", a Tawni O'Dell novel, also at DreamWorks, with Todd Field attached to direct. Darabont and his production company, "Darkwoods Productions", have an overall deal with Paramount Pictures.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American writer, producer, and director. He is known for his television work, specifically as creator, head writer, executive producer, and director of Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul. He was a writer and producer for The X-Files and was the co-creator of its spin-off The Lone Gunmen.
Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have received widespread critical acclaim, with Gilligan winning two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Writers Guild of America Awards, two Critics' Choice Television Awards and Producers Guild of America Awards, one Directors Guild of America Award and a BAFTA. Outside of television, he co-wrote the screenplay for the 2008 film Hancock.
Gilligan was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Gail, a grade school teacher, and George Vincent Gilligan Sr., an insurance claims adjuster. His parents divorced in 1974 and he and his younger brother, Patrick, were raised in Farmville and Chesterfield County, and attended the laboratory school run by Longwood College. Growing up, Gilligan became best friends with future film editor and film title designer Angus Wall. His interest in film began when Wall's mother, Jackie, who also taught alongside Gilligan's mother, would lend her Super 8 film cameras to him. He used the camera to make science fiction films with Patrick. One of his first films was entitled Space Wreck, starring his brother in the lead role. One year later, he won first prize for his age group in a film competition at the University of Virginia.
Jackie would take Wall and Gilligan to Richmond and drop them off at Cloverleaf Mall to see films, and encourage both of them to pursue a career in the arts. "I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for Jackie. She was a wonderful lady and a real inspiration," he recalls. Gilligan was recognized for his talents and creativity at an early age. George Sr. described him as a "kind of a studious-type young man, and he liked to read, and he had a vivid imagination". He introduced Gilligan to film noir classics, as well as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns on late-night television. Gilligan won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts. After eighth grade, he moved back to Chesterfield to attend high school.
After graduating from Lloyd C. Bird High School in 1985, Gilligan went on to attend NYU's Tisch School of the Arts on a scholarship, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film production. While at NYU, he wrote the screenplay for Home Fries; Gilligan received the Virginia Governor's Screenwriting Award in 1989 for the screenplay, which was later turned into a film. One of the judges of the competition was Mark Johnson, a film producer. He was impressed by Gilligan, saying he "was the most imaginative writer I'd ever read".- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Steven Knight is a British screenwriter and film director. He is best known for screenplays he wrote for the films Dirty Pretty Things (2002) and Eastern Promises (2007), and also directed as well as written the film Locke (2013).
Knight is also one of three creators of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a game show that has been remade and aired in around 160 countries worldwide, and has written for BBC's Commercial Breakdown, The Detectives , Peaky Blinders and Taboo.
Others films based on screenplays that Knight has written include The Hundred-Foot Journey and Pawn Sacrifice both in 2014.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Nikita Mikhalkov is the son of the famous communist poet Sergey Mikhalkov, who wrote the lyrics of the Soviet national anthem and had strong connections to the Communist Party. Nikita Mikhalkov's mother, Natalya Petrovna Konchalovskaya, was also a poet and daughter of famous painter Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky and his wife Olga Vasilievna Surikova, and by her the great granddaughter of another great painter Vasily Surikov. And then last, but not least, Nikita Mikhalkov is the brother of Andrey Konchalovskiy, also a distinguished film director who, unlike Nikita, has worked in the USA.
Not only did Mikhalkov direct the Academy Award-winning film "Burnt by the Sun" but he is also well-known as a versatile actor, having appeared in over 40 films, including the role of the Russian Tsar Alexander III in his own "The Barber of Siberia" (1998).
Mikhalkov has an impressively long list of wins at the most prestigious film festivals, like Cannes, Venice, Moscow or Karlovy Vary.
Following his movie's Oscar win for Best Foreign Language Film, Nikita Mikhalkov won a parliamentary seat in the then Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin's party.
He is always in the spotlight, especially in Moscow, where he resides.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Bob Nelson was born on 18 July 1956 in Yankton, South Dakota, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Nebraska (2013), The Confirmation (2016) and Highston (2015).- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Dennis Lehane was born on 4 August 1965 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for The Drop (2014), Mystic River (2003) and Live by Night (2016). He was previously married to Dr. Angela Mililani (Lieb) Bernardo and Sheila Fort Lawn.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
J.H. Wyman was born in Oakland, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Fringe (2008), Almost Human (2013) and Debris (2021).- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Joe Eszterhas was born on 23 November 1944 in Csakanydoroszlo, Hungary. He is a writer and producer, known for Basic Instinct (1992), Showgirls (1995) and Sliver (1993). He has been married to Naomi Baka since 30 July 1994. They have four children. He was previously married to Geraldine Javer.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
A producer, writer, director and award-winning novelist. He is the author of the collection 'Between Here and the Yellow Sea' and the novel 'Galveston.' He is originally from Southwest Louisiana, and taught literature at several universities, including the University of Chicago, before going into screenwriting in 2010. His fiction has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and 26 other languages. He is best known as the creator of HBO's "True Detective", for which he was showrunner, producer, sometime director and almost entirely sole writer for its first three seasons. As of December 2023, he is attached to direct his first feature, "Easy's Waltz", starring Vince Vaughn and Al Pacino, and as showrunner for the Amazon original series "The Magnificent Seven" among other projects. He is married to the singer/songwriter Suzanne Santo (Suzanne Pizzolatto).- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Writer/Director Peter Gould was born and raised in the Chelsea neighborhood of Lower Manhattan where he was expelled from a number of tony, non-conformist private schools. After graduating with a B.A. in English from Sarah Lawrence College, Peter became a fixture on the New York Indie scene, working in every conceivable job on films ranging from the retro punk angst of Scott and Beth B. to the joyous exploitation of Troma ("The Toxic Avenger"). Finally landing in the semi-respectable world of television commercials, Peter quickly decided that he wanted to make films of his own. Moving west to the USC Graduate Production program, Peter devoted himself to writing and directing. Peter's memories of unhappy prep school experiences, Luis Buñuel movies and an abiding interest in women's feet percolated through his unconscious: the result was the short film script DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is the story of a self-hating foot-fetishist who works as a department store trainee. The hero is forced to confront his worst fears and his greatest desires when he's assigned to ladies' shoes. Clearly, this was a film that Peter was destined to make since one of his earliest memories is of spying on his first grade teacher's toes during reading circle. Needless to say, Peter was kicked out of second grade. Through blood, sweat and some clever political maneuvering, Peter managed to get the unusual film concept past a skeptical USC faculty committee and selected out of a pool of several hundred scripts to be one of the year's major graduate productions. Peter was also granted the then-rare privilege of directing his own script. The finished film garnered a shelf-full of awards including the Nissan Focus Award and the Cine Golden Eagle. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS "...displays a delicious sense of dark humor... painfully funny!" Peter and his film were selected to represent the university at the CILECT Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, where the film won the Audience Award and was given the unique privilege of being both screened on Czech television and satirized in other student films. Additionally, Dirty Little Secrets won the Hiroshima International Film Festival and was featured on Entertainment Tonight. In the wake of all this attention, Peter was now officially "flavor of the month", complete with dueling talent agencies competing to represent him and an appearance in PREMIERE magazine. Peter was deluged with every low-budget low-concept T & A script in Hollywood. Dissatisfied with the quality of the material, Peter returned to screenwriting, turning out a series of highly-regarded, eccentric scripts. Peter's credits as a screenwriter include DOUBLE DRAGON, a $20 million action film that set off the video-game movie trend. He has also directed music videos and wrote and directed a best-selling home video for children. For the past five years, he has taught film production in the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at the U.S.C. School of Cinema-Television. He has also taught at the Art Center in Pasadena. Currently, Peter is preparing to direct his first feature film, a dark, quirky comedy that is scheduled to shoot in early 1997.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
WGA, DGA and Golden Globe nominated writer, director, and producer, Greg Berlanti, is the force behind several of the most inventive and acclaimed works of film and television.
He is the writer, director and producer behind several of the most creative and lauded television series, including ABC's "Brothers and Sisters," "Eli Stone" (for which he was nominated for a WGA Award) and "Political Animals," the USA Network mini-series (for which he was nominated for a WGA, DGA and Golden Globe award). Berlanti started in television as a writer and executive producer on "Dawson's Creek" before going to to create and executive produce two of the WB's most critically acclaimed dramas - "Everwood" and "Jack & Bobby."
Berlanti co-wrote and produced the Warner Bros. action film, "Green Lantern." He also directed "Life As We Know It," starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel, which grossed over $100m worldwide. In 2000, Berlanti made his film directorial debut with "The Broken Hearts Club."
In 2013, he is Executive Producing both "Arrow," for the CW and "Golden Boy," for CBS and working on "The Tomorrow People," a new pilot for the CW.
Berlanti resides in Los Angeles.- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Sam Esmail was born on 17 September 1977 in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Mr. Robot (2015), Homecoming (2018) and Leave the World Behind (2023). He has been married to Emmy Rossum since 28 May 2017. They have two children.- Producer
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Mark Bomback was born on 29 August 1971 in New Rochelle, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) and Godsend (2004).- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Neil Jordan was born on 25 February 1950 in Sligo, Ireland. He is a writer and producer, known for The Crying Game (1992), Greta (2018) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). He has been married to Brenda Rawn since 30 June 2004. They have two children. He was previously married to Vivienne Shields.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Nick Antosca was born on 23 January 1983 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Channel Zero (2016), The Act (2019) and A Friend of the Family (2022).- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
She's American TV producer and Screenwriter, born in Ohio and graduated from Wittenberg University, in 2000 with a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing. She has written scripts for TV such as "The West Wing", "Justice", as well as has written and produced shows such as "Daredevil", "Private Practice". Now she's working on a show for Netflix, will be written and produced by her also, named "The Witcher" which is based on the famous Polish book by Andrzej Sapkowski. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Michael Hissrich who is also a TV producer like her with her two children, Harry and Ben.- Writer
- Director
- Actress
Julie Andem was born on 4 July 1982 in Oslo, Norway. She is a writer and director, known for Skam (2015), SKAM Austin (2018) and MIA (2010).- Writer
- Director
- Actor
A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world cinema, Haneke wrote and directed films in several languages: French, German and English, working with a great variety of actors, such as Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Toby Jones, Ülrich Muhe, Arno Frisch and the list goes on.
This grand figure from Austrian cinema was born in Germany on 23 March 1942, from a German father and an Austrian mother, with both parents being from the artistic world working as actors, a career that Michael also tried but without much success. At the University of Vienna he studied drama, philosophy and psychology, and after graduation he went on to become a film critic and TV editor. His career behind camera started with After Liverpool (1974), which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct five more TV films and two episodes from the miniseries "Lemminge" (1979)_.
The years spent on television works prompted him to finally direct his first cinema feature, during his early 40's, which is somewhat unusual for film directors. But it was worth waiting. In The Seventh Continent (1989), Haneke establishes the foundation of what his future cinema would be about: a cinema that doesn't provides answers but one that dares to throw more and more questions, a cinema that reflects and analyses the human condition in its darkest and unexpected ways outside of any Hollywood formula. Films that exist to confront audiences and not comfort them. In it, Haneke deals with the duality of social values vs. internal values while exposing an apparent perfect family that runs into physical and material disintegration for reasons unknown. It was the first time a film of his was sent to the Cannes Film Festival (out of competition lineup) but he managed to cause some commotion in the audience with polemic scenes that were meant to extract all possible reactions from the crowd.
His next ventures at the decade's turn was in dealing with disturbed youth and the alienation they have in separating reality from fiction, trying to intersect both to drastic results. In Benny's Video (1992), it's the disturbing story of a teen boy who experiences killing for the first time capturing the murder on tape, impressed by the power of detachment that films and videos can cause to people; and later on the highly controversial Funny Games (1997), where two teens hold a family hostage to play sadistic games just for their own sick amusement. The film cemented Haneke's name as one of the greatest authors of his generation but sparkled a great debate with its themes of violence, sadism and the influence those things have in audiences. At the 1997's Cannes Film Festival, it was the film that had the most walk-out's by the audience. In between both films, he released 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994) and Kafka's The Castle (1997), the latter being one of the rare times when Haneke developed an adapted work.
In the 2000's, he strongly continued in producing more outstanding works prone to debate and reflection in what would become his most prolific decade with the following films: Code Unknown (2000), The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf (2003), Caché (2005), an American remake shot-by shot of Funny Games (2007) and The White Ribbon (2009). His study about romance versus masochism in The Piano Teacher (2001) was an intense work, with powerful performances by Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Magimel, that the Cannes jury in the year were so impressed that Haneke managed to actually reverse their award rules where it was decided that film entries at the festival couldn't win more than one main award (the two lead actors won awards and Haneke got the Grand Prize of the Jury, just lost the Palme d'Or). With The White Ribbon (2009), an enigmatic black-and-white masterpiece following the inception of Nazism in this pre WWI and WWII story focusing on repressed children living in this small village where strange events happen all the time and without any possible reasoning, Haneke conquered the world and audiences with an artistic and daring work that won his first Palme d'Or a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film and received an Oscar nomination for the same category plus the cinematography work of Christian Berger.
2012 was the year that marked his supremacy in the film world with the release of the bold and beautiful Amour (2012), a love story with powerful real drama and one where Haneke removed most of his usual dark characteristics to present more quiet and calm elements without losing input in creating controversy. The touching story of George and Anne provided one the greatest moments of that year and earned Haneke his second and consecutive Palme d'Or at Cannes and his first Oscar nominations for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay - and it was one of the several nominees for Best Picture Oscar, winning as Best Foreign Language Film.
After abandoning a flash-mob film project, he returned to the screen with Happy End (2017), a film dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe and again he debuted his film at Cannes, receiving mildly positive reviews.
Besides his film work, Haneke also directs theatre productions, from drama to opera, from Così fan tutte to Don Giovanni.