tv drama. in 2012, universal released savages, based on don winslow’s novel. salerno and winslow co-wrote the screenplay with writer/director oliver stone. the film starred aaron taylor-johnson, taylor kitsch, blake lively, benicio del toro, salma hayek, and john travolta. roger ebert gave the film 31/2 stars (out of 4), saying, "a return to form for stone’s darker side, savages generates ruthless energy." the film was nominated for four 2012 alma awards, honoring accomplishments made by hispanics in film, television, and music. in 2013, salerno began working as a screenwriter on james cameron’s much-anticipated sequels to avatar. cameron chose salerno, along with rick jaffe, amanda silver, and josh friedman, to establish a writer’s room for avatar: the way of water, avatar: the seed bearer, avatar: the tulkun rider, and avatar: the quest for eywa. details of the project are being kept under wraps but cameron praised salerno and the other writers, telling deadline hollywood they were chosen because he has "long-admired" them. in 2016, salerno brokered the seven-figure film rights deal to don winslow’s cartel trilogy, which will be titled the border. the trilogy of novels was originally purchased by 20th century fox for salerno to write the script for ridley scott to direct. but in 2019, due to the sprawling nature of the story and world therein, fx networks acquired the rights from their sister studio to turn the novels into a tv series. fx gave the pilot order in december 2022, and production will being in mexico in 2023. in 2017, salerno and winslow teamed up again to write the cartel-themed narrative for tom clancy’s ghost recon wildlands video game for ubisoft. wildlands was nominated for ign's e3 2015 game of the show, best playstation 4 game, best xbox one game and best pc game awards, and received one of gamespot's best of e3 2015 awards. it was also named the best co-operative and the best shooter by game informer in their best of e3 2015 awards. wildlands was the best-selling retail game in both the uk and the us in march 2017, surpassing competitors including horizon zero dawn and the legend of zelda: breath of the wild. it was also one of the biggest video game launches in 2017, and it became the fastest-selling title in the tom clancy's franchise, only behind tom clancy's the division. in 2018, salerno was instrumental in selling the film rights to former fbi director james comey’s book a higher loyalty. comey was reluctant to have his book adapted into a film or tv series, but credits salerno with convincing him, telling comey, "if your book sells a million copies, it’ll be a huge nonfiction success. if a tv show has a million viewers, it’s canceled today." the project – retitled the comey rule – eventually landed at showtime with salerno and the story factory executive producing and acclaimed screenwriter billy ray (captain phillips, shattered glass) adapting the book and directing the two-night limited series. jeff daniels starred as james comey and brendan gleeson portrayed donald trump. both were nominated for golden globes. the two-night special went on to become the highest rated miniseries premiere in the history of showtime. avatar sequels avatar: the way of water after repeated delays in the expected release schedule, avatar: the way of water premiered in london on december 6, 2022, and was theatrically released in the united states on december 16, 2022. the film received positive reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects and technical achievements but criticized the plot and lengthy runtime. the film was a major box office success, breaking multiple records, and grossing over $2.054 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2022, the highest-grossing film of the covid-19 pandemic era, the fifth highest-grossing film of all time, the sixth film to pass the $2 billion mark and the second-fastest film to reach the milestone. organizations like the national board of review and the american film institute named it as one of the top ten films of 2022. the film was nominated for four awards at the 95th academy awards (including best picture) and received numerous other accolades. film and television credits yeartitlerole 1991sundown: the future of children and drugswriter, producer, director, narrator, music supervisor 1993–1994nypd bluewriter, director apprentice 1995–1996new york undercoverstaff writer 1997breakdownproduction rewrite 1998armageddonscreenwriter 2000shaftstory and screenplay 2001–2002uc: undercoverexecutive producer, writer, show runner, music supervisor 2004alien vs. predatorproduction rewrite 2007 ghost rider contributing writer aliens vs. predator: requiem writer 2010–2011hawaii five-0writer, consulting producer 2012savagesscreenwriter, executive producer 2013salingerwriter, producer, director 2014salinger (director's cut) (american masters)writer, producer, director 2020the comey ruleexecutive producer 2022 avatar: the way of water story 2023 the border (fx tv series) co-creator / executive producer 2024 avatar: the seed bearer story 2026avatar: the tulkun rider story 2028 avatar: the quest for eywa story and screenplay in development untitled shane salerno/kurtzman-orci project writer, executive producer fantastic voyage screenwriter frankie machine screenwriter, producer untitled chuck hogan/don winslow crime drama producer satori screenwriter, executive producer afterlife producer unsub tv series producer salinger salerno spent ten years on his documentary salinger, a project that he researched, wrote, produced, directed, and financed. the film examined the life of author j. d. salinger, a writer noted for protecting his privacy. the movie includes interviews with philip seymour hoffman, edward norton, john cusack, and tom wolfe. a director's cut appeared on the pbs series american masters in january 2014. with author david shields, salerno wrote the book salinger to accompany the film. it reached number six on the new york times bestseller list and number one on the los angeles times bestseller list. it was also a barnes & noble bestseller, an amazon best book of the month, npr bestseller, independent booksellers bestseller, book-of-the-month club selection, history book club selection, and earned starred reviews from both publishers weekly and kirkus reviews. the story factory shane salerno is the founder of the story factory, an entertainment company that currently represents authors, including don winslow, the michael crichton estate, steve hamilton, lou berney, meg gardiner, marcus sakey, tj newman, john katzenbach, adrian mckinty, reed farrel coleman, bill beverly, steve cavanagh, dervla mctiernan, eric rickstad, james phelan, and greg harden, former us capitol police chief steven a. sund, as well as four-time oscar-nominated filmmaker michael mann. the story factory has put 25 books onto 49 different new york times bestseller lists (with six books hitting #1 on ten lists), made over 200 best books of the year lists, and its authors have either won or been nominated for every major writing award in the world, including the pulitzer prize, the national books critics circle award, the edgar award, the barry award, the macavity award, the los angeles times book prize, and the new york times notable books of the year. screenwriter and producer salerno’s foray into literary representation happened during a lunch with his friend and former co-collaborator, don winslow. despite widespread critical accolades, winslow was lamenting the state of his career and the difficulty of supporting his family on his meager book advances and was contemplating quitting writing and going back to being a safari guide. salerno told him "a lot of people can be safari guides, not many people can write the way you do." salerno offered to help negotiate winslow’s next book deal and winslow, who figured he was quitting anyway, fired his agent minutes later. salerno would go on to transform winslow’s book, film, and tv deals and began accruing seven-figure deals for winslow’s work. the publishing world took notice and soon other prominent authors began calling salerno to represent them, as well. in 2012, salerno was flipping through novels in a bookstore when he came across steve hamilton’s edgar award-winning novel the lock artist. salerno optioned the book. this too would prove fruitful, as salerno and hamilton struck up a friendship and hamilton would sign on as the salerno’s second novelist client. hamilton’s first book with the story factory, the second life of nick mason, became a new york times bestseller. one thing that sets salerno and the story factory apart from other agencies is their collaboration with authors and publishers on the marketing of the novels. the early days of the company saw salerno pulling double-duty, splitting his time between his screenwriting career and his literary company. he would spend all day working with james cameron and the other writers on the avatar sequels, then spend all night working on the deals, marketing, and publicity for his author’s books. 2016 saw salerno broker a seven-figure book deal for award-winning filmmaker michael mann (heat, the insider, the last of the mohicans) to launch a new book imprint, michael mann books, at harpercollins. the two had previously worked together on two film projects. salerno had heard of irish author adrian mckinty’s struggles to sustain his family on his writing advances and, recognizing his immense talent, salerno called mckinty. but the author thought it was a joke and hung up. salerno called back, this time with don winslow (who saw similarities to his own writing journey), and the two convinced mckinty to sign with the story factory. mckinty’s first book with salerno, the chain, created a bidding war and the publishing rights were sold in lucrative deal to mulholland books. the chain would go on to become a new york times bestseller, win the barry and macavity awards, and was named best book of the year by international thriller writers. salerno sold the film rights in another seven-figure deal to universal, with edgar wright slated to begin directing the project later in 2022. in 2019, flight attendant-turned-author tj newman sent a query letter to the story factory. salerno happened to pick up the letter on the top of his pile of mail and was intrigued by her concept for a novel about a pilot whose family is kidnapped and will be killed unless he crashes the plane. salerno signed newman and eventually sold the publishing rights for seven-figures, then the film rights to universal in another seven-figure deal. a full list of the seven-figure book-to-film sales negotiated by the story factory includes don winslow’s savages (to universal, with oliver stone directing), shane salerno’s salinger (to pbs for the 200th episode of american masters, as well as to the weinstein company for theatrical release), steve hamilton’s the second life of nick mason (to lionsgate, with nina jacobson and shane salerno producing), winslow’s the cartel (to twentieth century fox, with ridley scott directing and producing), don winslow’s the force (again to fox, with james mangold directing a script from scott frank, for matt damon to star in), don winslow’s satori (to warner brothers and leonardo dicaprio’s appian way, for dicaprio to star in and produce), don winslow’s a cool breeze on the underground (to mrc, for rian johnson to executive produce), meg gardiner’s unsub series to amazon, bill beverly’s los angeles times book prize and gold dagger-winning novel dodgers (to fx network), marcus sakey’s afterlife (to brian grazer and ron howard at imagine entertainment), marcus sakey’s brilliance (to paramount for will smith to executive produce and star), adrian mckinty’s the chain to universal (with edgar wright directing), tj newman’s falling to universal, and adrian mckinty’s upcoming novel the island to hulu. the story factory bestsellers the story factory has put 25 books onto 49 different new york times bestseller lists, with six books hitting #1 on ten lists: year title author new york times bestseller list(s) 2012 savages don winslow paperback fiction the kings of cool don winslow hardcover fiction 2013 salinger shane salerno & david shields hardcover fiction combined print & ebook fiction 2015 the cartel don winslow hardcover fiction 2016 the second life of nick mason steve hamilton hardcover fiction 2017 the force don winslow hardcover fiction combined print & ebook fiction the hangman’s sonnet reed farrel coleman combined print & ebook fiction 2018 a higher loyalty james comey hardcover nonfiction (#1) combined print & ebook nonfiction (#1) audio nonfiction (#1) colorblind reed farrel coleman hardcover fiction combined print & ebook fiction look alive twenty-five janet evanovich mass market paperback fiction (#1) 2019 the border don winslow hardcover fiction combined print & ebook fiction the friends we keep jane green hardcover fiction the chain adrian mckinty hardcover fiction combined print & ebook fiction paperback trade fiction the bitterest pill reed farrel coleman