Liz Hannah

Elizabeth Hannah (born December 14, 1985) is an American screenwriter and film producer. She is best known for her work on Steven Spielberg's 2017 journalism drama The Post for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay.

Liz Hannah
BornElizabeth Hannah
(1985-12-14) December 14, 1985
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
  • Screenwriter
  • producer
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
SpouseBrian Millikin

Early life and education

Hannah did her undergraduate studies at the Pratt Institute in New York. Following an internship on 2007's Reign Over Me, she was admitted to the AFI Conservatory, in the producing discipline.[1]

Career

After graduating from AFI, Hannah moved to Los Angeles. She got a job in development at Denver & Delilah, Charlize Theron’s production company.[2] Several years into her role, Hannah realized she didn't want to be a producer and decided to write a film of her own about "a 70th-birthday party gone awry." She sent the script to her boss and in 2012, based on the encouraging feedback, quit her job to pursue writing full-time.[3]

Over the next couple of years, she wrote a spec pilot that was sold but not made, and wrote for a web series called Guidance.[1]

During this period, Hannah read Personal History, the 1997 autobiography of The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. Her then-boyfriend (now husband) challenged her to write Graham's story as a film.[1]

In October 2016, Hannah sent the finished script, titled The Post, out to agents, with the hope of finding representation. On October 28, she received a call from producer Amy Pascal, the former chair of Sony Pictures.[3] The script appeared at number two on the 2016 Black List, an annual Hollywood survey of the "most liked" film screenplays not yet produced.[4] Pascal won an auction for the script soon after, and quickly enlisted Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks as director and stars, respectively.[4][5]

Spielberg, who was in post-production on Ready Player One, decided to make the film immediately.[6] Hannah was partnered with screenwriter Josh Singer, an Oscar winner for 2015 journalism drama Spotlight, and with the on-set writing experience Hannah lacked.[3] Principal photography began on May 30, 2017.[7]

The Post, Hannah's first feature film, was released on December 22, 2017. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for her work.[8]

Hannah's next film, the political comedy Long Shot, starring Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron, premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 3, 2019 by Lionsgate.[9]

In July 2018, it was announced Hannah would co-write All the Bright Places alongside author Jennifer Niven.[10] Principal photography on the film started in October 2018 and it is scheduled to be released on February 28, 2020. The film will be distributed by Netflix.[11]

It was announced on October 27, 2017 that Hannah would write the script for Only Plane in the Sky for MGM, based on a Politico article by Garrett Graff about the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.[12] She is also working on a miniseries titled Mercury 13 for Amazon Video, based on Martha Ackmann’s book The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight. The project reunites Hannah with The Post producer Pascal and actor Bradley Whitford. Hannah would serve as showrunner and executive producer should the show be ordered to series.[13][14] More recently she started Happy Friday Productions with an overall deal at Civic Center/MRC Television.[15]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Credit Notes
2017 The Post Written by, Co-producer With Josh Singer
Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Screenplay
2019 Long Shot[16] Written by With Dan Sterling
2020 All the Bright Places Written by, executive producer With Jennifer Niven
2023 Lee Written by, executive producer With John Collee

Television

Year(s)TitleCreditNote(s)
2019MindhunterWriter; Producer Season 22 episodes
2022The DropoutWriter; executive producerEpisode: "Flower of Life"
2022The Girl from PlainvilleCo-creator; writer; executive producer3 episodes

References
  1. Marotta, Jenna (December 1, 2017). "'The Post': Screenwriters Liz Hannah and Josh Singer on Revisiting History with Meryl Streep and Steven Spielberg". IndieWire. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  2. "The Post: First-Time Screenwriter Liz Hannah's Inspirational Path to Success - ScreenCraft". ScreenCraft. October 6, 2017. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  3. Press, Joy (December 20, 2017). "The Post's Liz Hannah On How Her Spec Script Launched an Oscar Campaign". Vulture. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  4. Nicholson, Amy (December 21, 2017). "How a writer defied 'one in a million' odds to get her first movie made by Steven Spielberg". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  5. Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 31, 2016). "Amy Pascal Buys Pentagon Papers Movie Spec Script 'The Post' By Liz Hannah". Deadline. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  6. Ryan, Patrick (November 20, 2017). "Steven Spielberg on timely new film 'The Post': 'History is certainly repeating itself'". USA TODAY. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  7. Desk, Movies News (June 6, 2017). "Production Underway on Spielberg's THE PAPERS, Starring Meryl Streep & Tom Hanks". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  8. Wilkinson, Alissa (December 19, 2017). ""It's a story about moral decisions": The Post's screenwriters on journalism and history". Vox. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  9. D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 15, 2019). "'Long Shot' Trailer: Charlize Theron's Presidential Candidate Is Out Of Seth Rogen's League". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  10. Hipes, Patrick (July 23, 2018). "'All The Bright Places' Movie Ramps Up With Justice Smith To Star With Elle Fanning, Brett Haley Directing". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  11. "Netflix Film "All The Bright Places" Begins Production". New On Netflix: NEWS. October 8, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  12. Busch, Anita (October 3, 2017). "'The Post' Screenwriter Liz Hannah Hired To Pen MGM's 'Only Plane In The Sky'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  13. Andreeva, Nellie (November 17, 2017). "Amazon Developing 'Mercury 13' Mini Produced By Brad Whitford & Amy Pascal". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  14. Montpelier, Rachel (November 17, 2017). "Liz Hannah and Amy Pascal Developing Female Astronaut Miniseries for Amazon". Women and Hollywood. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  15. Andreeva, Nellie (2021-03-12). "Liz Hannah Launches Production Company With Overall Deal At Civic Center Media/MRC Television". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
  16. "Untitled Seth Rogen/Charlize Theron". South by Southwest. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
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