Shane Salerno

Shane Salerno (born November 27, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer, and Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory. His writing credits include the films '' Avatar: The Way of Water'', ''Armageddon'', '' Savages,'' '' Shaft'', and the TV series '' Hawaii Five-0''. He was chosen by director James Cameron to co-write the four sequels to ''Avatar,'' '' Avatar: The Way of Water'' (released in 2022)'','' '' Avatar: The Seed Bearer'' (2024), '' Avatar: The Tulkun Rider'' (2026), and '' Avatar: The Quest for Eywa'' (2028). He spent ten years writing, producing, financing, and directing the documentary '' Salinger'', and co-writing with David Shields the companion book which became a ''New York Times'' bestseller.

As a screenwriter, Salerno has collaborated with James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Michael Bay, William Friedkin, Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, John Singleton, Jan de Bont, and Ridley Scott, He has sold pitches, spec screenplays, fiction and non-fiction books, feature film documentaries, television pilots, television documentaries, and foreign book deals reaching eight figures. All-told, films he has either written or co-written have resulted in six movies premiering at number one at the box office, and have grossed over three billion dollars (not including the upcoming '' Avatar: The Seed Bearer'', '' Avatar: The Tulkun Rider'', and '' Avatar: The Quest for Eywa'').

Salerno is also the founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory, a production company and literary agency for novelists, which produces films and TV series based on literary properties, including the Showtime miniseries ''The Comey Rule'' in 2020, for which Jeff Daniels and Brendan Gleeson were both nominated for Golden Globes. Through his company The Story Factory, Salerno has been principally involved in the creation and publication of some of the most critically acclaimed books of the last decade, including 24 books that hit 47 different ''New York Times'' bestseller lists (with six books hitting #1 on ten lists), six ''New York Times'' Critics’ Choice Selections for Best Book of the Year with additional Best of the Year selections by more than 200 publications around the world, as well as multiple literary awards and nominations. The Story Factory's most recent book, ''Heat 2'', written by four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann and Edgar winner Meg Gardiner debuted at #1 on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.

Surrounding the 2020 presidential election, Salerno partnered with Don Winslow to champion Democratic candidates and causes and to fight back against Donald Trump and his agenda. Together they launched Don Winslow Films and began creating their own political videos for social media, highlighting the corruption of Trump and his administration. On October 13, 2020, Don Winslow Films released a video critical of Trump prior to his campaign event in Pennsylvania. The video features Bruce Springsteen's song "Streets of Philadelphia" and has been viewed more than 10 million times. According to a January 4, 2021 ''Los Angeles Times'' article, Don Winslow Films videos had garnered over 135 million views at that time. As of April 2022, the total is now over 250 million views.

Early life and education

Shane Salerno was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1972. He attended 10 schools in 12 years, including St. John's College High School, a military academy in Washington, D.C. where he was co-captain of the football team and the only write-in class president since the school was founded in 1851. At San Dieguito High School in Encinitas, California, he was editor of the school newspaper, played varsity football, and was voted most likely to succeed.

Salerno has repeatedly cited the influence of filmmaker Michael Mann and the TV show ''Miami Vice'', which Mann created and produced. His first formative cinematic memory from childhood was watching Mann's movie ''Thief'' when he was eight years old. He wrote two films for Mann in 2000 and 2012 and dedicated his documentary film '' Salinger'' to him in 2013. As a literary agent, Salerno now currently represents Michael Mann Books, Mann's publishing imprint at HarperCollins.

Teenage filmmaker

Salerno first made national headlines as a high school senior when he wrote, produced and directed the award-winning documentary film '' Sundown: The Future of Children and Drugs''. The film had its world premiere on Larry King Live in September 1991. Larry King ended the interview by saying "And Shane Salerno, one has a feeling we are going to be hearing about you. I have this feeling." '' Sundown'' won several "Best Documentary of the Year" honors and Salerno was honored in separate ceremonies in houses of the United States Congress.

TV and film

At the age of 19, Salerno was invited by Gregory Hoblit, a nine-time Emmy winning producer/director, to apprentice as a writer/director on '' NYPD Blue''. In an interview with Creative Screenwriting, Salerno credited the backstage pass as his "film school". At 22, Salerno signed a three-year contract with Universal Television to work on various series beginning with ''New York Undercover''. His television scripts led film producers to offer him the opportunity to write feature films. As a result of these offers, Salerno asked Universal to release him from his contract.

Salerno's first feature screenplay was the World War II submarine thriller ''Thunder Below'' for Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks Pictures based on the book by Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Eugene B. Fluckey. Salerno has called this time with Steven Spielberg his "writing school".

Salerno was then hired to do a production rewrite of the Kurt Russell film ''Breakdown'', directed by Jonathan Mostow. '' Breakdown'' debuted #1 at the box office with $12.3 million. The film grossed a total of $50,159,144 in the United States and Canada. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 73% of critics gave the film positive reviews. Peter Stack of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' praised the film, saying, "''Breakdown'' use old-fashioned ingenuity – plus a compelling star, a fast-paced mystery and a deadpan villain – to come up with a sizzler." Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, calling it "taut, skillful and surgically effective".

In 1997, director Michael Bay asked him to rewrite the screenplay for ''Armageddon''''.'' The film was released on July 1, 1998, in 3,127 theaters in the United States and Canada. It ranked first at the box office with an opening weekend gross of $36 million. It grossed $201.6 million in the United States and Canada and $352.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $553.7 million. It was the highest-grossing film of 1998, both worldwide and in the United States. The film received four Academy Award nominations at the 71st Academy Awards and also received the Saturn Award for Best Direction and Best Science Fiction Film (where it tied with ''Dark City''). In the book ''Visions of Armageddon'', Bay called Salerno's work "brilliant." Following the film, Salerno was named by ''Variety'' as one of the "hottest new creatives on the film scene."

In 1998, working with director John Singleton and writer Richard Price, Salerno wrote the screenplay for the 2000 movie ''Shaft''. It began Salerno's lifelong friendship with the director and when Singleton passed in 2019, Salerno wrote a tribute to Singleton in Deadline Hollywood. The film opened at #1 with $21.7 million; by the end of its run, '' Shaft'' had grossed $70.3 million in the domestic box office and $107.2 million worldwide, against a $46 million budget.

In 1999, Salerno sold the rights to the bestseller ''Zodiac'' to Disney's Touchstone Pictures in a seven-figure deal. Despite Salerno delivering a well-regarded screenplay, Disney was unwilling to greenlight a violent film about a serial killer. When Disney let the rights lapse, David Fincher directed Zodiac based on the same book for another studio.

In February 2000, acclaimed filmmaker Michael Mann announced his next project after ''Ali'' would likely be a "fact-based film about the drug trade in the U.S. and Mexico," written by Salerno.

In 2001–2002, Salerno returned to television by co-creating (with crime novelist Don Winslow) the NBC series '' UC: Undercover,'' which TV Guide described as "Donnie Brasco meets Mission Impossible." The series starred Vera Farmiga, Oded Fehr, Jon Seda and Ving Rhames. Salerno served as executive producer, showrunner, head writer, and music supervisor. ''The New York Times'' called it a "fast paced, good-looking series," and ''Variety'' wrote that series lead Oded Fehr is a "commanding and interesting addition to television." ''Variety'' added that "technical credits are comparable to theatrical quality," which led the series winning awards for acting, cinematography and sound. Despite the favorable reviews, the series lasted just one season. But Salerno's friendship with Winslow would last, and the two would partner again in the future, with Salerno eventually becoming Winslow's book agent.

In 2003, working with director Paul W. S. Anderson, Salerno adapted the screenplay for ''Alien vs. Predator''. Salerno spent six months writing the shooting script, finished its development, and stayed on for revisions throughout the film's production. '' Alien vs. Predator'' grossed $38.2 million in its opening weekend and debuted at #1 at the box office. It would gross another $97.1 million internationally, making it the second highest-grossing film in either the '' Alien'' or ''Predator'' franchises (behind only ''Prometheus''). Salerno would go on to write the screenplay for the sequel '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem''.

In 2004, Salerno became the youngest "Guest of Honor" speaker in the history of the Los Angeles Screenwriting Expo. He made follow up appearances in 2005 and 2006. When interviewed for Expo 5, Creative Screenwriting Magazine publisher Erik Bauer remarked that "Shane Salerno has been really supportive over the years, and is a great mentor for a number of writers that I know."

In 2005, Salerno was brought on to adapt '' Meg'', the Steve Alten novel, with Jan de Bont directing. The project had originally been set up at Disney, but languished in development. New Line then optioned the book, where it was developed for two and a half years. New Line's original script was written by Alten, but the studio feared it too closely resembled '' Jurassic Park'' and they brought in Salerno to do a rewrite. (Salerno turned in a script that was more serious in tone than the version of the film that would eventually be released in 2018.) de Bont hired his dream team of special effects and production experts, and New Line even pre-sold the rights to foreign distributors. But when budgeted out, the film was estimated to cost north of $150 million. Salerno and de Bont worked to bring the budget down under $125 million, but in the end New Line got cold feet and let the option expire.

In 2006, Salerno was brought on board to do a production draft of the Nicolas Cage vehicle ''Ghost Rider''. Released in 2007, the film went on to gross almost $230 million.

On Monday, June 29, 2009, ''Variety'' carried a front-page story about Salerno selling ''License to Steal,'' a pitch for "seven figures upfront" to Paramount Pictures and Kurtzman- Orci Productions ('' Star Trek'', ''Transformers''). ''Variety'' described the project as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid set in the world of hi-line repo." Several studios and A-list directors pursued Salerno. According to Variety, Salerno made the pitch four times. He accompanied Bryan Singer ( ''X-Men'', ''The Usual Suspects'') to Sony, McG ('' Terminator: Salvation'') to Warner Brothers and Timor Bekmambetov ('' Wanted'') to Universal before deciding on Paramount Pictures and Kurtzman- Orci in a deal Variety said was "...the priciest project deal of the summer." After the sale, Kurtzman and Orci issued a joint statement: "We're thrilled to be working with Shane, a wildly inventive and talented creator."

On December 10, 2009, MTV broke the story that the "secret James Cameron/Shane Salerno project" is a remake of the 1966 Academy Award-winning film ''Fantastic Voyage'.'' While the film would ultimately not get made, it proved to be an important moment for Salerno, as Cameron later hired Salerno to be one of the co-writers on the upcoming sequels to ''Avatar'', one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.

In 2010, Salerno worked as a writer and consulting producer on the CBS reboot of '' Hawaii Five-0'', which was co-created by Alex Kurtzman, one of the producers on Salerno's previous project, ''License to Steal''. That season, the show was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama.

In 2012, Universal released '' Savages'', based on Don Winslow’s novel. Salerno and Winslow co-wrote the screenplay with writer/director Oliver Stone. The film starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Benecio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, and John Travolta. Roger Ebert gave the film 3^1/2 stars (out of 4), saying, "A return to form for Stone’s darker side, ''Savages'' generates ruthless energy." The film was nominated for four 2012 ALMA Awards, honoring accomplishments made by Hispanics in film, television, and music.

In 2013, Salerno began working as a screenwriter on James Cameron’s much-anticipated sequels to ''Avatar''. Cameron chose Salerno, along with Rick Jaffe, Amanda Silver, and Josh Friedman, to establish a writer’s room for Avatar: The Way of Water, '' Avatar: The Seed Bearer'', '' Avatar: The Tulkun Rider'', and '' Avatar: The Quest for Eywa''. Details of the project are being kept under wraps but Cameron praised Salerno and the other writers, telling Deadline Hollywood they were chosen because he has "long-admired" them.

In 2016, Salerno brokered the seven-figure film rights deal to Don Winslow’s Cartel Trilogy, which will be titled ''The Border''. The trilogy of novels was originally purchased by 20th Century Fox for Salerno to write the script for Ridley Scott to direct. But in 2019, due to the sprawling nature of the story and world therein, FX Networks acquired the rights from their sister studio to turn the novels into a TV series. FX gave the pilot order in December 2022, and production will being in Mexico in 2023.

In 2017, Salerno and Winslow teamed up again to write the cartel-themed narrative for '' Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands'' video game for Ubisoft. ''Wildlands'' was nominated for IGN's E3 2015 Game of the Show, Best PlayStation 4 Game, Best Xbox One Game and Best PC Game awards, and received one of GameSpot's Best of E3 2015 awards. It was also named the best co-operative and the best shooter by ''Game Informer'' in their Best of E3 2015 Awards. ''Wildlands'' was the best-selling retail game in both the UK and the US in March 2017, surpassing competitors including '' Horizon Zero Dawn'' and '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild''. It was also one of the biggest video game launches in 2017, and it became the fastest-selling title in the '' Tom Clancy's'' franchise, only behind '' Tom Clancy's The Division''.

In 2018, Salerno was instrumental in selling the film rights to former FBI Director James Comey’s book '' A Higher Loyalty''. Comey was reluctant to have his book adapted into a film or TV series, but credits Salerno with convincing him, telling Comey, "If your book sells a million copies, it’ll be a huge nonfiction success. If a TV show has a million viewers, it’s canceled today." The project – retitled ''The Comey Rule'' – eventually landed at Showtime with Salerno and The Story Factory Executive Producing and acclaimed screenwriter Billy Ray ('' Captain Phillips, Shattered Glass'') adapting the book and directing the two-night limited series. Jeff Daniels starred as James Comey and Brendan Gleeson portrayed Donald Trump. Both were nominated for Golden Globes. The two-night special went on to become the highest rated miniseries premiere in the history of Showtime.

Avatar Sequels

''Avatar: The Way of Water''

Following repeated delays in the expected release schedule, ''Avatar: The Way of Water'' premiered in London on December 6, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 16, 2022. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the film for its visual effects and technical achievements but criticized the plot and lengthy runtime. The film has grossed over $1.9 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2022 and the seventh highest-grossing film of all time. It was the sixth-fastest film to cross the billion-dollar mark, doing so in 14 days, and the fourth film to cross the $1 billion mark since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The film also received numerous accolades, including nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director at the 80th Golden Globe Awards.

Film and television credits

''Salinger''

Salerno spent ten years on his documentary ''Salinger'', a project that he researched, wrote, produced, directed, and financed. The film examined the life of author J. D. Salinger, a writer noted for protecting his privacy. The movie includes interviews with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, John Cusack, and Tom Wolfe. A director's cut appeared on the PBS series ''American Masters'' in January 2014.

With author David Shields, Salerno wrote the book ''Salinger'' to accompany the film. It reached number six on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list and number one on the ''Los Angeles Times'' bestseller list. It was also a Barnes & Noble bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, NPR bestseller, Independent Booksellers bestseller, Book-of-the-Month Club Selection, History Book Club Selection, and earned starred reviews from both ''Publishers Weekly'' and '' Kirkus Reviews''.

The Story Factory

Shane Salerno is the founder of The Story Factory, an entertainment company that currently represents authors, including Don Winslow, the Michael Crichton estate, Steve Hamilton, Lou Berney, Meg Gardiner, Marcus Sakey, TJ Newman, John Katzenbach, Adrian McKinty, Reed Farrel Coleman, Bill Beverly, Steve Cavanagh, Dervla McTiernan, Eric Rickstad, James Phelan, and Greg Harden, former US Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund, as well as four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Michael Mann.

The Story Factory has put 24 books onto 47 different ''New York Times'' Bestseller lists (with six books hitting #1 on ten lists), made over 200 Best Books of the Year lists, and its authors have either won or been nominated for every major writing award in the world, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Books Critics Circle Award

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