Steven Conrad (born May 20, 1968) is an American

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Personal life

Steven Conrad was born in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

, and briefly 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 ...

before transferring to

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, where he majored in creative writing. His brother, Chris Conrad, is an actor and has frequently appeared in Steven's productions. Their mother was a teacher at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School,

Plantation, Broward County, Florida Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 91,750. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the E ...

Career

Shortly after attending Northwestern, at age 19, he sold his first screenplay, ''

Wrestling Ernest Hemingway ''Wrestling Ernest Hemingway'' is a 1993 American romantic drama film written by Steve Conrad and directed by Randa Haines, starring Richard Harris, Robert Duvall, Sandra Bullock, Shirley MacLaine, and Piper Laurie. The film is about two elder ...

'', adapted from a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

he had written for a creative writing class. Eleven years passed before he tackled his next project, ''Lawrence Melm'', which he wrote and directed. He followed this with ''

The Weather Man ''The Weather Man'' is a 2005 American dark comedy-drama film directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Steve Conrad, and starring Nicolas Cage in the lead role, Michael Caine and Hope Davis. It tells the story of a weatherman in the midst of a m ...

'' (which he also produced) and ''

The Pursuit of Happyness ''The Pursuit of Happyness'' is a 2006 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a homeless salesman. Smith's son Jaden Smith co-stars, making his film debut as Gardner's son, Christo ...

''. He wrote, directed, and edited ''

The Promotion ''The Promotion'' is a 2008 American comedy film written and directed by Steven Conrad. A look at the quest for the American Dream, it focuses on two grocery store managers vying for a promotion. The film premiered at South by Southwest in Mar ...

'', which premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in March 2008 and was released by

Dimension Films Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and relea ...

later that year. His projects include an adaptation of the

Chang-Rae Lee Chang-rae Lee (born July 29, 1965) is a Korean-American novelist and a professor of creative writing at Stanford University. He was previously Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton and director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing. E ...

novel ''Aloft'' for

Scott Rudin Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American film, television, and theatre producer. His films include the Academy Award-winning Best Picture ''No Country for Old Men,'' as well as ''Uncut Gems'', '' Lady Bird, Fences, The Girl with the Dragon ...

; ''Chad Schmidt'', about a talented actor with a resemblance to

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

and ''The Expanding Mailman'' with

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

. In 2013, he adapted a

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected in ...

short story for the film ''

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book '' My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...

'', directed by and starring

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as ...

. In 2015, Conrad developed ''

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

'' for

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

. Its

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

led to a full series order, and it premiered in its entirety on February 24, 2017. In addition to executive-producing the series, he has also written and directed most of the first season's episodes. In the same year, Conrad re-wrote the script for ''

Wonder Wonder most commonly refers to: * Wonder (emotion), an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected Wonder may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * The Wonders, a fictional band ...

'', a film adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name by

R. J. Palacio Raquel Jaramillo Palacio (born July 13, 1963) is an American author and graphic designer. She is the author of several novels for children, including the best-selling ''Wonder'', which was adapted into a 2017 film starring Julia Roberts and Ow ...

. The script was also written by

Jack Thorne Jack Thorne FRSL (born 6 December 1978) is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for writing the stage play ''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', the films ''Wonder'' and '' Enola Holmes'', an ...

and

Stephen Chbosky Stephen Chbosky (; born January 25, 1970) is an American screenwriter, film producer, film director, novelist, television writer, and television producer. He is best-known for writing the bestselling coming-of-age novel ''The Perks of Being a Wal ...

, with the latter having directed the film, which was released on November 17, 2017. In 2019, Conrad's series ''

Perpetual Grace, LTD ''Perpetual Grace, LTD'' is an American neo-noir thriller television series that premiered on Epix on June 2, 2019. The series is produced by MGM Television, with co-creators Steven Conrad and Bruce Terris writing each episode. The main cast fea ...

'', starring Sir

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two ...

and featuring many of the actors from ''Patriot'', premiered on

Epix Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's pr ...

. In 2021, Conrad's stop action animation series '' Ultra City Smiths'' premiered on

AMC+ AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** AM ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards

References

External links

*
March 11, 2008 Conrad interview at SXSW
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad, Steven 1968 births American male screenwriters American directors American film directors American film producers Living people Northwestern University alumni Writers from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Florida State University alumni Screenwriters from Florida Film directors from Florida Film producers from Florida American television directors American male television writers Television producers from Florida American television producers American expatriates in England