Diablo Cody
"Juno" was runner-up for the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award, won second prize at the Rome Film Festival, and earned four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. Cody herself won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for her debut script, which also picked up a Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. She also won screenplay honors from BAFTA, the Writers Guild of America, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, the Satellite Awards, and the 2008 Cinema for Peace Award for Most Valuable Work of Director, Producer & Screenwriter (which she shared with Jason Reitman, John Malkovich, Mason Novick, Russel Smith and Lianne Halfon).
Don Winslow
In the late 1970s, Winslow returned to New York City, first working as manager of a chain of movie theaters, then as a private investigator in movie theaters and the back alleys of Times Square. He went back to school to earn a master's degree in Military History, led safaris in Kenya and hiking trips in China's Sichuan province. His first published novel, "A Cool Breeze on the Underground" (1991) was written during this time. It was the first of a series of books about investigator Neal Carey, and was nominated for an Edgar award. His thriller "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" (1997) was a success, and allowed him to become a full-time writer. In 2007 "Bobby Z" was turned into a film starring Paul Walker and Laurence Fishburne. Winslow wrote the adaptation of "Savages" into a film of the same name with Oliver Stone directing.