Ken Nolan

{{Infobox writer

| name = Ken Nolan

| imagesize =

| birth_name =

| birth_date =

| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Writer

| nationality =

| education = University of Oregon

| genre = War, biographical, historical fiction, thriller, military fiction, action adventure

| notableworks = Black Hawk Down
The Company
Transformers: The Last Knight

| spouse =

| children =

| relatives =

| awards = WGA Award for Television

| signature =

| website =

}}

Ken Nolan ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|oʊ|l|ə|n}}) is an American screenwriter and novelist best known for adapting the 2001 biographical war film Black Hawk Down from the non-fiction book of the same name.{{Cite web|url=https://www.writersstore.com/authors/ken-nolan/|title=Ken Nolan|website=www.writersstore.com|language=en|access-date=September 15, 2017}}

Life and career

Nolan was born in Detroit and raised in Buffalo, New York and Portland, Oregon.{{Cite news|url=https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/writing-black-hawk-down/|title=Writing "Black Hawk Down"|date=April 3, 2010|work=Screenwriting from Iowa|access-date=September 15, 2017|language=en-US}} He applied twice to the UCLA Film School but was turned down both times. He ultimately attended the University of Oregon, earning an English degree. He moved to Los Angeles, California in the early 1990s to pursue a career as a screenwriter, working at Richard Dreyfuss' company using The Screenwriter's Workbook by Syd Field as a guide. He wrote several screenplays before breaking through in 1994, writing a series of spec scripts for Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures.

His first produced screenplay was an adaptation of Mark Bowden's 1999 non-fiction book Black Hawk Down, which was ultimately made into an Academy Award-winning film of the same name by Ridley Scott.{{Cite news|url=http://www.scriptmag.com/features/script-screen-black-hawk|title=FROM SCRIPT TO SCREEN: 'Black Hawk Down' – Script Magazine|date=January 21, 2016|work=Script Magazine|access-date=September 15, 2017|language=en-US}} He initially wrote a 60-page treatment and writing a total of eight drafts before Scott was attached to the project by producer Jerry Bruckheimer.{{Cite news|url=https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/writing-black-hawk-down/|title=Writing "Black Hawk Down"|date=April 3, 2010|work=Screenwriting from Iowa|access-date=September 15, 2017|language=en-US}} Nolan was one of several writers (including Steven Zaillian, Stephen Gaghan, Eric Roth{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aiQxDwAAQBAJ&q=black+hawk+down+eric+roth&pg=PT185|title=The Hollywood War Machine: U.S. Militarism and Popular Culture|author1-link=Carl Boggs|last=Boggs|first=Carl|date=July 5, 2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781351543606|language=en}}){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVFhcBcv_X8C&q=black+hawk+down+eric+roth&pg=PA171|title=History in the Media: Film and Television|last=Niemi|first=Robert|date=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781576079522|language=en}} who contributed to the final shooting script, though he was the only one to receive on-screen credit.

Nolan's next major project was the TNT miniseries The Company, for which he received a Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted.{{cite web|url=http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=2764|title=2008 Writers Guild Awards Winners Announced|work=Writers Guild of America, West|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423232152/http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=2764|archivedate=April 23, 2008|accessdate=July 9, 2016}} In early 2015, he published his first novel, The Spawn.{{cite web|url=http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Ken-Nolan/553787778|title=Ken Nolan|publisher=Simon & Schuster}}{{Cite book|title=The Spawn|last=Nolan|first=Ken|date=February 15, 2015|publisher=Permuted Platinum|isbn=9781618685131|language=English}}

He replaced Ehren Kruger as the writer of the Transformers film series, penning the latest entry Transformers: The Last Knight and the as-yet untitled spin-off film.{{Cite news|url=http://collider.com/transformers-akiva-goldsman-adds-ken-nolan-geneva-robertson-writers-room/|title=TRANSFORMERS: Akiva Goldsman Adds Ken Nolan and Geneva Robertson to Writers' Room|date=June 4, 2015|work=Collider|access-date=September 15, 2017|language=en-US}} Nolan wrote Only the Brave, a 2017 drama film which, like Black Hawk Down, is a work of historical fiction based on true events.