Susannah Grant, the writer-director of the new romantic dramedy “Catch and Release,” received an Oscar, Writers Guild, and BAFTA nominations for best original screenplay for Erin Brockovich
directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Julia Roberts and Albert Finney.
Julia Roberts received the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of whistle-blower Erin Brockovich, a single mother whose discovery of a cover-up by Pacific Gas & Electric involving contaminated water resulted in the largest class action lawsuit in American history against a multi-billion dollar corporation.
That same year, 2000, Grants screenplay “28 Days” was produced. The film, about drug and alcohol rehab, was directed by Betty Thomas and starred Sandra Bullock.
Most recently, Grant co-wrote the screenplay for the live-action/CGI version of Charlotte’s Web based on the book by E.B. White. Prior to that, she wrote the script for Curtis Hansons In Her Shoes starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and
Shirley MacLaine. Previously, she co-wrote the screenplays for Ever After, the critically acclaimed update of the Cinderella fairy tale, starring Drew Barrymore, and Pocahontas, the blockbuster 1995 Disney animated feature. From 1995-1998, Grant was a writer-producer-director on the popular television series Party of Five, which received a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Drama.
Born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, Grant is a graduate of Amherst College, with a degree in English, and the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies screenwriting program. In 1992, she was a recipient of the Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
