| Ken Nolan | |
| Birth Place: | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Education: | University of Oregon |
| Genre: | War, biographical, historical fiction, thriller, military fiction, action adventure |
| Notableworks: | Black Hawk Down The Company |
| Awards: | WGA Award for Television |
Ken Nolan is an American screenwriter and novelist best known for adapting the 2001 biographical war film Black Hawk Down[1] from the non-fiction book of the same name.[2]
Nolan was born in Detroit and raised in Buffalo, New York and Portland, Oregon.[3] He applied twice to the UCLA Film School but was turned down both times.[4] He ultimately attended the University of Oregon, earning an English degree. He moved to Los Angeles, California in the early 1990s to pursue a career as a screenwriter, working at Richard Dreyfuss' company using The Screenwriter's Workbook by Syd Field as a guide.[5] He wrote several screenplays before breaking through in 1994, writing a series of spec scripts for Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures.
His first produced screenplay was an adaptation of Mark Bowden's 1999 non-fiction book Black Hawk Down, which was ultimately made into an Academy Award-winning film of the same name by Ridley Scott.[6] He initially wrote a 60-page treatment and writing a total of eight drafts before Scott was attached to the project by producer Jerry Bruckheimer.[7] Nolan was one of several writers (including Steven Zaillian,[8] Stephen Gaghan, Eric Roth[9])[10] who contributed to the final shooting script, though he was the only one to receive on-screen credit.
Nolan's next major project was the TNT miniseries The Company, for which he received a .[11] In early 2015, he published his first novel, The Spawn.[12] [13]
He replaced Ehren Kruger as the writer of the Transformers film series, penning the latest entry and the as-yet untitled spin-off film.[14] Nolan wrote Only the Brave, a 2017 drama film which, like Black Hawk Down, is a work of historical fiction based on true events.
Film
Television