Shane Salerno
American filmmaker and activist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Shane Salerno (born November 27, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory. His writing credits include the films Avatar: The Way of Water, Armageddon, Savages, Shaft, and the TV series Hawaii Five-0.
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (April 2024) |
Shane Salerno | |
|---|---|
 Salerno in 1991 | |
| Born | (1972-11-27) November 27, 1972 (age 51) Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Education | St. John's College High School, San Dieguito High School |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, producer, director |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Known for | Avatar: The Way of Water Armageddon The Comey Rule 27 New York Times best Seller list |
He has written, co-written or rewritten six films that debuted at #1 at the box office, two separate films that were the highest grossing film of the year (1998 and 2022), and the third highest grossing film of all time.[1]
As the Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory, he has been a driving force behind 29 New York Times bestsellers and six #1 New York Times bestsellers. He was chosen by director James Cameron to co-write the four sequels to Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water (released in 2022), Avatar: The Seed Bearer (2025), Avatar: The Tulkun Rider (2029), and Avatar: The Quest for Eywa (2031).[2][3][4][5][6] He spent ten years writing, producing, financing, and directing the documentary Salinger, and co-writing with David Shields the companion book which became a New York Times bestseller.[7]
As a screenwriter, Salerno has collaborated with James Cameron,[8] Steven Spielberg,[9] Michael Mann,[10] Michael Bay,[11] William Friedkin,[9] Oliver Stone,[12] Ron Howard,[10] John Singleton, Jan de Bont, and Ridley Scott.[13] He has sold pitches, spec screenplays, fiction and non-fiction books, feature film documentaries, television pilots, television documentaries, and foreign book deals reaching eight figures.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] All-told, films he has either written or co-written have resulted in six movies premiering at number one at the box office, and have grossed over three billion dollars (not including the upcoming Avatar: The Seed Bearer, Avatar: The Tulkun Rider, and Avatar: The Quest for Eywa).[23][24]
Salerno is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory, a production company and literary agency for novelists, which produces films and TV series based on literary properties, including the Showtime miniseries The Comey Rule in 2020, for which Jeff Daniels and Brendan Gleeson were both nominated for Golden Globes.[25][26][27][28][14][13][29] Through his company, The Story Factory, Salerno has been principally involved in the creation and publication of some of the most critically acclaimed books of the last decade, including 29 books that hit 56 different New York Times bestseller lists (with six books hitting #1 on ten lists), six New York Times Critics’ Choice Selections for Best Book of the Year with additional Best of the Year selections by more than 200 publications around the world, as well as multiple literary awards and nominations. The Story Factory's most recent book, Heat 2, written by four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann and Edgar winner Meg Gardiner debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.[30][31]
Surrounding the 2020 presidential election, Salerno partnered with Don Winslow to champion Democratic candidates and causes. Together, they launched Don Winslow Films and began creating their own political videos for social media. On October 13, 2020, Winslow Films released a video critical of Trump prior to his campaign event in Pennsylvania. The video features Bruce Springsteen's song "Streets of Philadelphia" and has been viewed more than 10 million times. According to a January 4, 2021 Los Angeles Times article, Don Winslow Films videos had garnered over 135 million views at that time.[32] As of April 2022, the total is now over 250 million views.[33]