Peter L. Steinfeld is an American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon a ...

. He is best known for writing

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...

Drowning Mona ''Drowning Mona'' is a 2000 American crime comedy film starring Danny DeVito as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from Verplanck, New York, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly (Bette Midler), a spiteful, hard-drinking, loud-mout ...

'' (released 2000),

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

Be Cool ''Be Cool'' is a 2005 American crime-comedy film based on Elmore Leonard's 1999 novel of the same name and the sequel to Leonard's 1990 novel '' Get Shorty'' (itself adapted into a 1995 film of the same name) about mobster Chili Palmer's entranc ...

'' (2005) and

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

'' 21'' (2008).

Early life

Steinfeld was born and raised in Wayne,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. After attending undergraduate school for eight years, he set up an unsuccessful

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthda ...

company, later working as a forklift operator at a cosmetics company to pay off his

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

40,000 of debt when his own company shut down. He completed his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in English literature at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

(NYU), where he also undertook a screenwriting workshop. Students were expected to have written an entire

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

screenplay over the six-week course, but Steinfeld had only written eleven pages by the workshop's conclusion.

Career

After taking the NYU workshop, Steinfeld decided to pursue screenwriting with the eleven-page screenplay he had completed: "Even though I only had those 11 pages, my feeling was, 'I'm not sure if I'm any good at it, but I love this.'" He later finished the screenplay and sold it to Neverland Films as the

2000 film The year 2000 in film involved some significant events. The top grosser worldwide was ''Mission: Impossible 2''. Domestically in North America, ''Gladiator (2000 film), Gladiator'' won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor (Russell ...

'', starring

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Gl ...

and

Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series '' Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him a Go ...

. He was next signed by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

to write the sequel to

mafia comedy Mafia comedy films are a subgenre hybrid of comedy films and crime/gangster films. Criteria Mafia comedies revolve around organized crime, often specifically the Italian-American Mafia but also other mafias or mafia-like crime groups, and a comedic ...

Analyze This ''Analyze This'' is a 1999 American mafia comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the screenplay with playwright Kenneth Lonergan, and Peter Tolan. The plot follows a crisis-stricken mafioso (Robert De Niro) who solicits the assis ...

'', which became the 2002 film ''

Analyze That ''Analyze That'' is a 2002 American mafia comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and produced by Paula Weinstein and Jane Rosenthal. The film is a sequel to the 1999 film ''Analyze This''. The film starred Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal who res ...

''. He next adapted

Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense th ...

's novel ''Be Cool'' into a film of the same name, released in 2005. As a fan of Leonard and ''Be Cool''s preceding novel, ''

Get Shorty ''Get Shorty'' is a 1990 novel by American novelist Elmore Leonard. In 1995, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name, and in 2017 it was adapted into a television series of the same name. Plot summary The story centers on Ernest ...

'', Steinfeld thought it "the greatest thing in the world" when Leonard was impressed by the screenplay. Steinfeld had been signed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

in 2003 to adapt

Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. Early life and education Mezrich was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Molli Newman, a lawyer, and Reuben Mezrich, a chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland Schoo ...

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

book '' Bringing Down the House'', about the feats of the

card counting Card counting is a blackjack strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage on the next hand. Card counters are advantage players who try to overcome the casino house edge by keeping a running count of high and lo ...

MIT Blackjack Team The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students and ex-students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and other leading colleges who used card counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at b ...

, into the film '' 21'', which was released in 2008. Before filming began in 2005, screenwriter

Allan Loeb Allan Loeb (born July 25, 1969) is an American screenwriter and film and television producer. He wrote the 2007 film '' Things We Lost in the Fire'' and created the 2008 television series ''New Amsterdam''. He wrote the film drama '' 21'', which ...

was brought in to rewrite Steinfeld's script as a former gambling addict. Steinfeld has completed an as-yet-unmade script, ''Ebony and Ivory'', for

Imagine Entertainment Imagine Entertainment (formerly Imagine Films Entertainment), also known simply as Imagine, is an American film and television production company founded in November 1985 by producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard. Background Brian Gra ...

. Currently, he and his wife, screenwriter DeShawn Schneider, are working on

high concept High concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise. It can be contrasted with ''low concept'', which is more concerned with character development and other subtleties that are not as easily summa ...

film ''The Big Shot'' for

Plan B Entertainment Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November in 2001 by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Kristin Hahn. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, Grey became the CEO ...

and a remake of

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

's 1977 film ''

Slap Shot ''Slap Shot'' is a 1977 American sports film directed by George Roy Hill, written by Nancy Dowd and starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean. It depicts a minor league ice hockey team that resorts to violent play to gain popularity in a declin ...

'' for

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

. He has also written and

executive produced Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

a number of

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dis ...

s, including "Pulse" and "Inspector General", which have not been picked up.

Personal life

Steinfeld is married to fellow screenwriter DeShawn Schneider, with whom he has two daughters: Chloe, born 2004, and Ally, born 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinfeld, Peter Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male screenwriters Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey New York University alumni Businesspeople from Jersey City, New Jersey Screenwriters from New Jersey Television producers from New Jersey