David Ward
Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient for Screenwriting
David S. Ward is the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of “The Sting” and also the creator of the “Major League” franchise.Shortly after graduating from UCLA’s film school in the early 1970s, Ward became a professional screenwriter when his script “Steelyard Blues” was produced with Peter Boyle, Jane Fonda, and Donald Sutherland in the leading roles. Ward’s second screenplay was “The Sting,” the beloved comedy about Depression-era confidence men that reunited stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford for the first time since their blockbuster success “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Ward’s screenplay for “The Sting” earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Ward’s other credits as a screenwriter include “The Sting II,” “Saving Grace,” “The Milagro Beanfield War,” “Sleepless in Seattle” (for which he shared an Academy Award nomination with Jeff Arch and Nora Ephron), and “Flyboys.” Upcoming projects include “Luna,” the story of famed ecological activist Julia Butterfly Hill, and “Buddha,” a biography of the religious figure.
Ward branched out into directing in 1982 by helming an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row,” starring Nick Nolte and Raquel Welch. In 1989 he wrote and directed the baseball comedy “Major League,” starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, and Wesley Snipes. He subsequently directed the John Goodman comedy “King Ralph,” the James Caan drama “The Program,” the sequel “Major League II,” and the Kelsey Grammer comedy “Down Periscope.”
In addition to his filmmaking career, Ward has taught at colleges including Chapman University. He also appears in the screenwriting documentary “Tales from the Script,” which is screening at this year's festival on Saturday, September 19. Ward will participate in a Q+A after the screening.