Steven Conrad

Steven Conrad
Steve Conrad discusses Patriot for New America in 2017
Born (1968-05-20) May 20, 1968 (age 56)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materFlorida State University
Northwestern University
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, director, film producer
Years active1986-present

Steven Conrad (born May 20, 1968)[1] is an American filmmaker.

Personal life

Steven Conrad was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and briefly attended Florida State University before transferring to Northwestern University, 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.[citation needed]

Career

Shortly after attending Northwestern, at age 19, he sold his first screenplay, Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, adapted from a short story 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 (which he also produced) and The Pursuit of Happyness. He wrote, directed, and edited The Promotion, which premiered at South by Southwest in March 2008 and was released by Dimension Films later that year.

His projects include an adaptation of the Chang-Rae Lee novel Aloft for Scott Rudin; Chad Schmidt, about a talented actor with a resemblance to Brad Pitt and The Expanding Mailman with Jack Black.[2]

In 2013, he adapted a James Thurber short story for the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by and starring Ben Stiller. In 2015, Conrad developed Patriot for Amazon Studios. Its pilot led to a full series order,[3] and it premiered in its entirety on February 24, 2017.[4] In addition to executive-producing the series, he has also written and directed most of the first season's episodes.[citation needed]

In the same year, Conrad re-wrote the script for Wonder, a film adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name by R. J. Palacio. The script was also written by Jack Thorne and Stephen Chbosky, with the latter having directed the film,[5] which was released on November 17, 2017.

In 2019, Conrad's series Perpetual Grace, LTD, starring Sir Ben Kingsley and featuring many of the actors from Patriot, premiered on Epix. In 2021, Conrad's stop-motion animated series Ultra City Smiths premiered on AMC+.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Credited as Notes
Director Writer Producer
1993 Wrestling Ernest Hemingway No Yes No
2004 Lawrence Melm Yes Yes No Directorial debut
2005 The Weather Man No Yes Yes
2006 The Pursuit of Happyness No Yes No
2008 The Promotion Yes Yes No
2013 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty No Yes No
2015 Unfinished Business No Yes No
2017 Wonder No Yes No

Television

Year Title Credited as Notes
Director Writer Producer
2011 Connie Banks the Actor Yes Yes No Unaired pilot
2013 Timms Valley Yes Yes No Unaired pilot
2015–2018 Patriot Yes Yes Yes Creator; Writer (14 episodes), director (14 episodes)
2019 Perpetual Grace, LTD Yes Yes Yes Co-creator; writer (10 episodes), director (6 episodes)
2021 Ultra City Smiths Yes Yes Yes Creator; writer (6 episodes), director (6 episodes)

Awards

Year Award Award category Nominated work Result
2018 Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Comedy Series Patriot Nominated
Critics' Choice Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Wonder Nominated

References

  1. ^ "Steve Conrad". IMDb. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  2. ^ "News & Politics". Chicago Reader. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  3. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (December 18, 2015). "Amazon Picks Up Slew of Comedy, Drama, Kids Series". Variety.com. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
  4. ^ Petski, Denise (January 27, 2017). "'Patriot' Gets February Premiere Date On Amazon". Deadline Hollywood.
  5. ^ Kit, Borys (April 23, 2015). "'Paddington' Director Books Lionsgate's YA Adaptation 'Wonder' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 16, 2016.