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Shana Feste

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Shana Feste
Born (1975-08-28) August 28, 1975 (age 49)
Palos Verdes, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
Occupations
SpouseBrian Kavanaugh-Jones

Shana Feste (born August 28, 1975) is an American film director and screenwriter. She has directed and written The Greatest, Country Strong, Endless Love, Boundaries, Run Sweetheart Run, and also has writing credits for You're Not You. She also teaches at the American Film Institute.[1]

Early life

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Feste was born and raised in Palos Verdes,[2] California. She has a sister. Feste attended UCLA.[3] When her parents divorced, she spent summers at her father's in Texas. She earned a master's degree in Creative Writing and Screenwriting at the University of Texas at Austin and then studied Producing at the American Film Institute,[4] from where she graduated in 2003.[5] She worked as a nanny, waited tables and tutored to pay for her tuition.[4][6] Following her graduation, she worked as an assistant at the Creative Artists Agency.[6] She is married to producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones.[7]

Career

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Feste's directorial debut was The Greatest, which was screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in the US dramatic competition section.[8] The film is based on Feste's father who lost a son before she was born.[9] It starred Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon as parents dealing with the death of their son.[10] The Greatest earned a Humanitas Prize nomination.[11] In 2009, she wrote the script for music drama Country Strong,[12] which she directed and was released in 2011. It was produced by Tobey Maguire, whom Feste came to know while she was a nanny, caring for his daughter.[6] The film focused on recovering alcoholic country singer Kellie Canter played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The song "Coming Home" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to Randy Newman's "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3.

Also in 2009, Feste was hired to write a screenplay based on the novel You're Not You by Michelle Wildgen.[13] Filming took place in December 2012. The film was set for release in 2013.[14]

In May 2011, Feste was announced to direct an adaptation of Carolyn Turgeon's novel Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale.[15] The project is still in development.[16] She directed the romance film Endless Love, a remake of the 1981 film.[17] The film was released in February 2014.[18] Feste next directed Boundaries starring Vera Farmiga and Christopher Plummer for Stage 6 Films, to be released on June 22, 2018.[19]

Feste wrote and directed the horror film Run Sweetheart Run, which premiered in January 2020 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was set to show at additional festivals and theatrically, but the COVID-19 pandemic stopped further release, at which point Amazon picked up streaming distribution.[20] During the pandemic, Feste created, wrote, and directed the podcast Dirty Diana over Zoom.[20] The podcast was picked up by Amazon for a streaming series adaptation with Feste returning to direct and co-write with Jen Besser again.[21] The pair also signed a deal to adapt the story into a trilogy of novels.[22]

Filmography

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
2004 Jonah Yes Yes Short film
2009 The Greatest Yes Yes
2010 Country Strong Yes Yes
2014 You're Not You Yes
Endless Love Yes Yes
2018 Boundaries Yes Yes
2020 Run Sweetheart Run Yes Yes Yes

References

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  1. ^ Samuel, Brittani (August 7, 2020). "How Shana Feste Learned to Direct Orgasms Over Zoom for 'Dirty Diana' Podcast". Backstage.
  2. ^ Roland, Tom (January 7, 2011). "In 'Country Strong' Movie, Gwyneth Paltrow Channels Her Inner Singer". Billboard. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  3. ^ "Shana Fest, "The Greatest": Triumph, Tragedy, and Honest Emotion". IndieWire. January 14, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Smith, Krista (January 7, 2011). "Country Strong Director Shana Feste: Is Garrett Hedlund the Next Brad Pitt?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  5. ^ "2009 AFI ALUMNI AND FELLOW AWARDS & HONORS". American Film Institute. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c Leydon, Joe (December 1, 2010). "Shana Feste's Nanny Diaries". MovieMaker Magazine. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  7. ^ O'Connor, Pauline (June 25, 2015). "Writer-Director Shana Feste and Producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones List Los Feliz Home For $1.9M". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  8. ^ Kay, Jeremy (December 3, 2008). "Sundance unveils competition lineup in four sections for 2009". Screen Daily. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  9. ^ Buchanan, Kyle (April 1, 2010). "Is The Greatest Director Shana Feste the Next Female Filmmaker You Need to Know?". Movieline. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  10. ^ Fleming, Michael (May 18, 2008). "'Greatest' gig for Brosnan, Sarandon". Variety. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  11. ^ "HUMANITAS Prize Announces 2009 Finalists – Press Release" (PDF). Humanitasprize.org. August 17, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  12. ^ "Paltrow Tops Screen Gems' 'Love Don't Let Me Down'". The Wrap. December 2, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  13. ^ McNary, Dave (March 24, 2009). "Shana Feste books 'You' time". Variety. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  14. ^ "You're Not You (2013)". MovieWeb.com. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  15. ^ Sneider, Jeff (May 23, 2011). "Sony taps Shana Feste for 'Mermaid'". Variety. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  16. ^ Roberts, Katie (June 11, 2013). "'50 Shades of Grey' Screenwriter to Pen New 'Little Mermaid' Adaptation". The Moviefone Blog. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  17. ^ Kit, Borys (August 2, 2012). "'Country Strong' Director Boarding 'Endless Love' Remake". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  18. ^ "Universal Sets Apropos Release Date For 'Endless Love' Remake". Deadline Hollywood. PMC. May 21, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  19. ^ Jaafar, Ali (May 2, 2016). "Sony's Stage 6 Films Acquires Worldwide Rights To Vera Farmiga-Christopher Plummer Road Trip Pic 'Boundaries'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  20. ^ a b Erbland, Kate (July 14, 2020). "'Dirty Diana': How Director Shana Feste Used Lockdown to Make a Very Sexy Podcast That 'Terrified' Her". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation.
  21. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (September 23, 2020). "Demi Moore To Star In Amazon Series 'Dirty Diana' Based On Erotic Drama Podcast From Shana Feste". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
  22. ^ Chandler, Mark (November 10, 2020). "HarperCollins pre-empts trilogy from Dirty Diana podcast creators | The Bookseller". The Bookseller. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
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Shana Feste at IMDb

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