Steven Conrad
Directing
Biography
Steven Conrad (born 20 May 1968) is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. Conrad is the brother of actor Chris Conrad. He lives in Chicago. Shortly after attending Northwestern, at age 19, he sold his first screenplay, Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, adapted from a short story he had written for a creative writing class. Eleven years passed before he tackled his next project, Lawrence Melm, which he wrote and directed. He followed this with The Weather Man (which he also produced) and The Pursuit of Happyness. He wrote, directed, and edited The Promotion, which premiered at South by Southwest in March 2008 and was released by Dimension Films later that year. In 2013, he adapted a James Thurber short story for the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by and starring Ben Stiller. In 2015, Conrad developed Patriot for Amazon Studios. Its pilot led to a full series order, and it premiered in its entirety on February 24, 2017. In addition to executive-producing the series, he has also written and directed most of the first season's episodes. In 2019, Conrad's series Perpetual Grace, LTD, starring Ben Kingsley and featuring actors from Patriot, premiered on Epix. In 2021, Conrad's stop-motion animated series Ultra City Smiths premiered on AMC+. In 2026, Conrad's black comedy miniseries DTF St. Louis premiered on HBO, starring Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini.
Known For
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
The Pursuit of Happyness
A love triangle among three adults experiencing middle-age malaise leads to one of them ending up dead.
DTF St. Louis
The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.
Wonder
To prevent Iran from going nuclear, intelligence officer John Tavner must forgo all safety nets and assume a perilous "non-official cover" -- that of a mid-level employee at a Midwestern industrial piping firm.
Patriot
A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Two detectives must contend with dangerous corruption as they investigate the mysterious disappearance of the last honest politician in their dark city. A group of unlikely suspects emerges - each with the last name of Smith.
Ultra City Smiths
James, a disgraced firefighter turned grifter, seizes a chance, illicit opportunity to reverse his life’s worsening course as he attempts to prey upon Pastor Byron Brown, who turns out to be far more dangerous than he appears.
Perpetual Grace LTD
A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.
The Weather Man
A hard-working small business owner and his two associates travel to Europe to close the most important deal of their lives. But what began as a routine business trip goes off the rails in every imaginable – and unimaginable – way, including unplanned stops at a massive sex fetish event and a global economic summit.
Unfinished Business
Two assistant managers of a corporate grocery store vie for a coveted promotion.
The Promotion
Frank, a retired Irish seaman, and Walter, a retired Cuban barber, are two lonely old men trapped in the emptiness of their own lives. When they meet in a park Frank is able to start a conversation after several attempts. They begin to spend time together and become friends. But because of their different characters they often quarrel with each other and finally seperate after Frank misbehaves to Walter's friend Elaine.
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
A scripted comedy set in the fictional town of Timms Valley, Wisconsin, where the lives and livelihoods of its citizens are intertwined with the fate of the town's biggest employer, Timms Industrial Piping. When the company's founder and CEO goes missing in a plane crash, the lives of the characters are turned upside down. Shot in stop-motion animation with baby dolls repurposed as an array of adult characters, and modeled on 1980s primetime soaps like Dynasty.
Timms Valley
The story of a Nigerian family that escaped terrorism in their home country, sought and received asylum in America, and — against all odds — found a welcoming new home in New York. Living in a homeless center on religious asylum, their 8-year-old son, Tani, won the 2019 New York State chess championship, despite only being introduced to the game two years prior.
Untitled Adewumi Family Project
The story of comic singer John Belushi who rose to fame in 1970s died for a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 33.