Ken Nolan
American screenwriter and novelist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ken Nolan (/ˈnoʊlən/) 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]
Ken Nolan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | University of Oregon |
| Genre | War, biographical, historical fiction, thriller, military fiction, action adventure |
| Notable works | Black Hawk Down The Company Transformers: The Last Knight |
| Notable awards | WGA Award for Television |
Life and career
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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[1] 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.[4] Nolan was one of several writers (including Steven Zaillian,[1] Stephen Gaghan, Eric Roth[5])[6] 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 Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted.[7] In early 2015, he published his first novel, The Spawn.[8][9]
He replaced Ehren Kruger as the writer of the Transformers film series, penning the latest entry Transformers: The Last Knight and the as-yet untitled spin-off film.[10] Nolan wrote Only the Brave, a 2017 drama film which, like Black Hawk Down, is a work of historical fiction based on true events.
Works
Film
- Black Hawk Down (2001)
- Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
- Only the Brave (2017)
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (additional literary material) (2023)
- The Amateur (2025)
Television
- The Company (2007)
- The Spawn (2015)