Grant Nieporte is best known for writing Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, and Woody Harrelson. His original screenplay was a top-ten finalist on The Black List, and the film grossed $170 million worldwide.
Grant began his career on the hit ABC sitcom Home Improvement and went on to work on more than 150 episodes of network television, including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Jack & Jill, and 8 Simple Rules, before returning to his first love: feature films.
He wrote Breakthrough for producer DeVon Franklin (Flamin’ Hot), Steph Curry, and 20th Century Fox. Starring Chrissy Metz and Josh Lucas, the film grossed $50 million worldwide and won Inspirational Film of the Year at the 2019 Dove Awards. He also co-wrote the true-life legal drama Cobalt and wrote the Nick Vujicic biopic for Reserve Entertainment (Blue Miracle).
Through Humble Picture Company, Grant co-wrote and produced Liz Here Now, starring Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (King Richard), for which he earned the p.g.a. mark. Humble Picture Company is also partnered with Steph Curry’s Unanimous Media and Barry Jenkins’ Pastel to produce Gym Rat for A24.
Grant was also hired to write the original screenplay The Believer and is currently adapting the novel Jewel of Heaven.
Bob Smiley is a Writers Guild of America Award-winning writer whose work spans television, film, and books.
He has worked on TV writing staffs for two decades, most recently serving as Co-Executive Producer on the Peabody Award-nominated Netflix series Atypical. He has pitched and sold pilots to Netflix, Universal TV, HBO Max, Disney, Nickelodeon, and more. He also created and executive produced the television series Life Just Got Real for The Wonder Project.
In film, Bob adapted Hope Heals for Sony Pictures, wrote the true-life story Swell and the Alice Cooper biopic Mr. Nice Guy, and is currently adapting A Tale of Two Seasons, the memoir of five-time NBA All-Star Paul Westphal.
As an author, Bob wrote Follow the Roar for HarperCollins and the satirical novel Don’t Mess with Travis, which Booklist called a “razor-sharp debut novel.” In 2026, he published The Silver Cord, a collection of 19 short stories, with a new collection, Dead Meat, slated for publication this November.
Bob began his writing career as a research assistant to the late, great William F. Buckley Jr. and has been a guest speaker at both Harvard Business School and his kids’ elementary school.
