Scott Frank

American screenwriter and director (born 1960)

A. Scott Frank (born March 10, 1960) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Frank has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for Out of Sight (1998) and Logan (2017). His film work, credited and uncredited, extends to dozens of films. in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on March 10, 1960. His family moved to Los Gatos, California where he attended high school while his father worked as a pilot for Pan Am. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduating in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in film studies.

While a student at the University of California, Frank first had the idea for what would become the script for Little Man Tate in 1981, thinking that, in the aftermath of the Iran hostage crisis that there was "a slight petulance to world events at the time" and envisioning "an eight year old who was making more sense of the world than Ted Koppel." After graduation he worked as a bartender while attempting to sell the script, which eventually led to his hiring an agent, and subsequently being hired by Paramount Pictures in 1984. It would take several years before the script was made, with Frank's first produced screenwriting work in the meantime being the 1987 film Plain Clothes, which he would later describe as "terrible." Little Man Tate was ultimately made in 1991 as the directorial debut of actress Jodie Foster. In the years to follow, Frank's filmography included scripts for Dead Again, Malice, Heaven's Prisoners, and Get Shorty. The latter earned him his first award nominations with both the Writers Guild and the Golden Globes. He credited the success of Get Shorty with reviving his interest in the job after a bad experience on Malice, and was particularly pleased as a longtime fan of Elmore Leonard's novels that he felt had not received satisfactory film adaptations previously. This success led to his being asked to work on another Elmore Leonard adaptation, Steven Soderbergh's 1998 film Out of Sight starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. The film was not a commercial success, but earned warm critical plaudits. He performed second unit directing duties for one segment of the film, an area of filmmaking he had contemplated moving into for some time. He also worked in the burgeoning superhero genre, making two films with director James Mangold, The Wolverine (2013) and Logan (2017). For the latter, he received his second Academy Award nomination. Frank said that he viewed the novel as exploring "the cost of genius", a theme that he had first intended to explore in Little Man Tate but "didn't quite get there with it." Frank won the 2021 Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

Year Award Category Work Result Ref. (Reference(s)) 1992 Edgar Awards Best Motion Picture Screenplay Dead Again 1996 Writers Guild of America Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Get Shorty USC Scripter Awards Film Edgar Awards Best Motion Picture Screenplay Golden Globe Awards Best Screenplay 1998 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Screenplay Out of Sight 1999 Writers Guild of America Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Adapted Screenplay National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Screenplay Edgar Awards Best Motion Picture Screenplay Academy Awards Best Adapted Screenplay 2002 Bram Stoker Awards Best Screenplay Minority Report 2003 Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation — Long Form Saturn Awards Best Writing 2004 Nebula Awards Best Script 2007 Satellite Awards Best Adapted Screenplay The Lookout 2008 Independent Spirit Awards Best First Feature Edgar Awards Best Motion Picture Screenplay 2017 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Logan 2018 Writers Guild of America Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Long Form – Original Godless USC Scripter Awards Film Logan Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film Godless Academy Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Logan Nebula Awards Outstanding Dramatic Presentation Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series Godless Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series Saturn Awards Best Writing Logan 2021 Golden Globe Awards Best Miniseries or Television Film The Queen's Gambit Writers Guild of America Awards Long Form – Adapted Producers Guild of America Awards Best Limited Series Television Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film USC Scripter Awards Television The Queen's Gambit (Episode: "Openings") Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series (together with William Horberg and Allan Scott) The Queen's Gambit Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie