Steven Conrad

American filmmaker

Steven Conrad

Steve Conrad discusses Patriot for New America in 2017

Born|  (1968-05-20) May 20, 1968 (age 55)

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.

Nationality| American
Alma mater| Florida State University
Northwestern University
Occupation(s)| Screenwriter, director, film producer
Years active| 1986-present

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

## Personal life[edit]

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[edit]

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 action animation series Ultra City Smiths premiered on AMC+.

## Filmography[edit]

### Film[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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.com.
5. ^ Kit, Borys (April 23, 2015). "'Paddington' Director Books Lionsgate's YA Adaptation 'Wonder' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 16, 2016.

## External links[edit]

* Steven Conrad at IMDb
* March 11, 2008 Conrad interview at SXSW

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* t
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Steven Conrad

Films written and directed|

* Lawrence Melm (2004)
* The Promotion (2008)

Films written|

* Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)
* The Weather Man (2005)
* The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
* The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
* Unfinished Business (2015)
* Wonder (2017)

TV series created|

* Patriot (2015–2018)
* Perpetual Grace, LTD (2019)
* Ultra City Smiths (2021)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Germany
* Israel
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Poland

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* IdRef

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