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Hunter’s interest in cinema and the stage took shape when he was in high school, and in 2014, he received a MacArthur Genius Grant for his work as a playwright. Influences: Joel and Ethan Coen, Tony Gilroy The film wrapped principal photography in July, and is tentatively set for release on Amazon next year. The writer assumed little would come of it, until Ben Affleck expressed an interest in directing and co-starring in it, bringing Matt Damon along to play Vaccaro. “Being able to portray this now-billion-dollar company as an underdog, and Michael as a sort of unknown quantity, those two things in parallel really inter- ested me.”Ĭonvery’s script made the Black List, and was optioned. “You always look for backdoor ways into very famous figures or stories, and obviously Michael Jor- dan is right up there,” the Chicago native says.

Now called “Sole Man,” the film is a gripping, witty boardroom procedural zeroing in on a few fateful days in the life of Sonny Vaccaro, a scrappy sports marketing guru who persuaded skeptical execs at a then-struggling upstart sneaker company, Nike, to bet the bank on an endorsement deal with a rookie NBA player from North Carolina back in 1984. However, the screenplay that he completed, titled “Air Jordan,” is not a biopic.

#BEST SCREENWRITERS TODAY SERIES#

He found it in one of the most relatable experiences known to modern man: shut up inside his apartment during the pandemic, watching the Michael Jordan doc series “The Last Dance” on ESPN. He had representation and two of his spec scripts had landed on the Black List, but he’d yet to see any of his screenplays make it into produc- tion, and he was looking for inspi- ration. Two and a half years ago, Convery was strapped for ideas.

Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, early Jane Campion Reps: Agency: Gersh Management: Sugar 23 Legal: Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman I love looking into the dark, and going deeper into the tangle of emotional layers, but I think we all need to see that light at the end of the tunnel - maybe now more than ever.” “It’s always been important for me to leave a story on a note of hope. I write late nights - sometimes all night - but I’m not sure how much longer I can keep that up.”Ĭonradt’s childhood was rich in the arts and came with a deep appreciation of nature, which led to an eclectic taste in cinema she cites “Sophie’s Choice” and “Jacob’s Ladder” as inspirational efforts. I’m relentless about taking off Christmas and my birthday, but I’m very dedicated to doing what I love. Recent efforts include an adap- tation of Italian thriller “The Dou- ble Hour,” while her script for “Dead of Winter” was recently set up at Netflix. I find that kind of shift in relationships fascinating.” “And in the flash of a single moment, a single tragedy, every- thing they’d been to each other is suddenly redefined in much darker terms as they both cope with loss. “What drew me to this story was the transformation in the relationship between these two women who leaned on each other in every way as best friends,” she says. Conradt’s adaptation of the Belgian film “Mother’s Instinct” wrapped production last summer, and features Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway, with veteran cinematographer Benoît Delhomme slipping into the director’s chair.

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