Nick Schenk, a film and television screenwriter with an affinity for grit, has signed with Agency for the Performing Arts.
Schenk has penned three scripts that became director-star vehicles for Clint Eastwood: “Gran Torino,” “The Mule,” and “Cry Macho.” 2008’s “Gran Torino” revived Eastwood as a leading man at the box office, earning nearly $270 million worldwide on a reported $33 million budget. Schenk also wrote “The Judge,” a 2014 feature teaming of Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, earning the latter an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
Most recently, Schenk co-wrote ‘”A Christmas Story Christmas” for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. An update to the holiday classic, the HBO Max original saw young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) all grown up trying to recreate the Christmas magic of his youth for his own kids.
Schenk’s TV credits include co-executive producing the Discovery anthology series “Manhunt” about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, starring Sam Worthington and Jack Huston. He also contributed episodes to Netflix’s “Narcos.” He continues to be managed by Entertainment 360 and attorney Stephen Clark.
APA has been on a signing spree lately, across talent verticals. William H. Macy and Maria Bello joined as acting clients, while vintage gaming brand Atari was brought on to leverage its intellectual property.
“There’s a great deal of competition for high-end talent, and that’s bringing the ability for these artists to build out production entities and shift from simply working in a fee-based situation to being part of the ownership of the content and having a real voice in its creation,” APA president Jim Osbourne told Variety recently. “We’re moving to less acting for hire, more building your own content.”