Peter Steinfeld | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation | Screenwriter,television producer andtelevision director |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Notable works | Drowning Mona (2000) Be Cool (2005) 21 (2008) |
| Spouse | DeShawn Schneider |
| Children | Chloe Steinfeld, Ally Steinfeld |
Peter L. Steinfeld is an Americanscreenwriter andtelevision producer. He is best known for writingmystery filmDrowning Mona (released 2000),comedy filmBe Cool (2005) anddrama film21 (2008).
Steinfeld was born and raised in Wayne,New Jersey. After attending undergraduate school for eight years, he set up an unsuccessfulgreeting card company, later working as a forklift operator at a cosmetics company to pay off hisUS$40,000 of debt when his own company shut down.[1] He completed hisbachelor's degree in English literature atNew York University (NYU), where he also undertook a screenwriting workshop. Students were expected to have written an entirefeature film screenplay over the six-week course, but Steinfeld had only written eleven pages by the workshop's conclusion.[1]
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.'"[1] He later finished the screenplay and sold it toNeverland Films as the2000 filmDrowning Mona, starringBette Midler andDanny DeVito.[2] He was next signed byWarner Bros. to write the sequel tomafia comedyAnalyze This, which became the2002 filmAnalyze That.[3] He next adaptedElmore Leonard's novelBe Cool into afilm of the same name, released in 2005.[4] As a fan of Leonard andBe Cool's preceding novel,Get Shorty, Steinfeld thought it "the greatest thing in the world" when Leonard was impressed by the screenplay.[1] Steinfeld had been signed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2003 to adaptBen Mezrich'strue crime bookBringing Down the House, about the feats of thecard countingMIT Blackjack Team, into the film21, which was released in 2008.[5] Before filming began in 2005, screenwriterAllan Loeb was brought in to rewrite Steinfeld's script as a former gambling addict.[6]
Steinfeld has completed an as-yet-unmade script,Ebony and Ivory, forImagine Entertainment. Currently, he and his wife, screenwriter DeShawn Schneider, are working onhigh concept filmThe Big Shot forPlan B Entertainment and a remake ofPaul Newman's1977 filmSlap Shot forUniversal Pictures.[7] He has also written andexecutive produced a number oftelevision pilots, including "Pulse"[7] and "Inspector General",[8] which have not been picked up.
Steinfeld is married to fellow screenwriterDeShawn Schneider, with whom he has two daughters: Chloe, born 2004, and Ally, born 2006.[7]
