Jamie Linden (born September 3, 1980) is an American
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
best known for ''
We Are Marshall'' (2006) and ''
Dear John'' (2010). He also wrote and directed ''
10 Years'' (2011) starring
Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film ''Step Up (film), Step Up''. He gained wider attention for ...
.
Early life
Linden grew up in
Winter Park,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
near
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...
, where he attended
Lake Howell High School
Lake Howell High School is a comprehensive four-year high school in Central Florida, US.
The school is in Seminole County with a Winter Park, Florida address.
The school's first principal, Richard L. Evans, was the first African-American princ ...
. He attended
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
's College of Communication, majoring in marketing and media production. After graduating from college in 2001, he and three friends traveled to
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
with tickets for
game show
A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...
''
The Price Is Right
''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...
''.
Upon arriving, he was individually called up to compete and won
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
5,000 and a
Tuscan wine
Tuscan wine (Italian ''Toscana'') is Italian wine from the Tuscany region. Located in central Italy along the Tyrrhenian coast, Tuscany is home to some of the world's most notable wine regions. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di ...
server cart, which he saw as a sign to stay in Hollywood: "I thought, well that's a sign, 'I should stay.' What you want to do, finds you."
Career
Before Linden became a screenwriter, he worked at
Mirage Enterprises
Mirage Enterprises was an American film production company founded by director and producer Sydney Pollack in 1985.
History
Sydney Pollack was known for being a director and occasional actor. He began producing his own films in the 1970s, then sta ...
as an assistant to directors
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 movies or shows and produced over 44 films. For his film ''Out ...
and
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007.
He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...
. After reading in a 30th anniversary article in ''
FSView & Florida Flambeau
The ''FSView & Florida Flambeau'' is a for-profit newspaper owned by the Gannett Company that covers the on-campus events, happenings, and trends of the Florida State University as well as concerts, museum and art exhibits, movies, literature an ...
'', Florida State's student newspaper, about the 1970
Southern Airways Flight 932
Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 domestic United States commercial jet flight from Stallings Field (ISO) in Kinston, North Carolina, to Huntington Tri-State Airport/Milton J. Ferguson Field (HTS) near ...
plane crash that killed most of the
Marshall University Thundering Herd football team,
Linden says he became "obsessed" with the story.
[ After moving to Hollywood, his first job involved reading ]feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
s. After being fired from several assistant positions, he decided to write his own screenplay.[ His first script was titled ''Things to Do Before I Die'', co-written with University of Florida alumnus Cory Helms, and ]Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
gave the pair a blind deal to write another script.[ Linden says the aftermath of the Marshall University tragedy was the very first story he ever thought of.][ In 2004, he pitched the story to Warner Bros. with film producers ]Basil Iwanyk
Basil William Iwanyk (born January 4, 1970) is an American film producer. He is the founder of Thunder Road Films and most known for '' Sicario'', '' The Town'', ''Greenland'' and the ''John Wick
''John Wick'' is an American action thrille ...
[ and Mary Viola.] When Warner Bros. bought the script, Linden and other film crew met with many family members of the plane crash victims including Keith Morehouse, whose father was killed in the crash, to collaborate on the honesty of the script and the dignity of the victims.[ The film became '' We Are Marshall'', released in ]2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
and directed by McG
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...
(Joseph McGinty Nichol), founder of Wonderland Sound and Vision
Wonderland Sound and Vision is an American production company founded by director and producer Joseph McGinty Nichol in 2001. It independently develops, produces and finances its own slate of feature films, television and digital projects. The co ...
.[
In 2006, it was reported that Linden was writing a ]biographical film
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...
about Olympic gold medalist downhill skier Bill Johnson to be produced by Basil Iwanyk, as well as an adaptation of '' The Dogs of Babel'' to be produced by David Heyman
David Jonathan Heyman (born 26 July 1961) is a British film producer and the founder of Heyday Films. Heyman secured the rights to the ''Harry Potter'' film series in 1999 and went on to produce all eight installments of the franchise. He als ...
and a television pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
titled ''Flash Back'' to be directed by McG.[
]
Personal life
In April 2013, Linden was a groomsman
A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...
at the wedding of '' Friday Night Lights'' actor Scott Porter
Scott may refer to:
Places Canada
* Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec
* Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380
* Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskat ...
. They were classmates at Lake Howell High School
Lake Howell High School is a comprehensive four-year high school in Central Florida, US.
The school is in Seminole County with a Winter Park, Florida address.
The school's first principal, Richard L. Evans, was the first African-American princ ...
in Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Winter Park was fo ...
.
In 2016, Linden started dating Canadian actress Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film ''Perfect Pie'' (200 ...
. Their first child, a son, was born in April 2018. In August 2020, it was reported that they were expecting their second child. During an interview in May 2022, McAdams confirmed she had given birth to a daughter.
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Jamie
1980 births
American male screenwriters
Living people
Florida State University alumni
Place of birth missing (living people)
Writers from Orlando, Florida
People from Winter Park, Florida
Film directors from Florida
American expatriates in Canada
Screenwriters from Florida
Film producers from Florida
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century American male writers