Biography

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Desmond Nakano yearned to be a rock musician. He jammed with neighborhood bands while attending North Hollywood High School, and by the time he was an underclassman studying Philosophy and English at UCLA, he had written several rock operas. After a year and a half in college, Nakano left school and moved to the Bay Area to start a band.

However, he returned to school and began studying film under the tutelage of screenwriter-director Paul Schrader. He began writing screenplays, and his script "Boulevard Nights" soon garnered recognition, and won both the Writers Guild Open Door Award and the Samuel Goldwyn Award. The script would later be optioned by producer Tony Bill and made in 1979, with Michael Pressman directing.

Nakano followed this initial success with the 1984 dance film "Body Rock", and worked as a writer on the 1986 sci-fi action film "Black Moon Rising". Next he was brought on to pen the screenplay adaptation of the Hubert Selby, Jr. novel "Last Exit to Brooklyn", which was released in 1989. He also worked as a writer on the 1992 crime drama, "American Me", which starred and was directed by Edward James Olmos.

Nakano made his directorial debut with 1995's "White Man's Burden" starring John Travolta and Harry Belafonte.

In 2007, Nakano co-wrote and directed "American Pastime".
- IMDb mini biography by: F.J. Trescothik

Son of actor/singer Lane Nakano.

In June 1990, The Los Angeles Times Reported that Nakano had written a screenplay titled "Wild Child", which was based on the autobiographical book, "Wonderland Avenue" by Danny Sugerman. Oliver Stone was set to be an executive producer on the project for Carolco Pictures.

Co-wrote an unmade screenplay called "Blood Mark" with Kevin Jarre, James Jacks was slated to be producer.

He had written the original screenplay for Enter the Ninja (1981).

Somehow, writing is more respectable. And the fortunate thing is that I've done OK.

Young writers are always intimidated by everyone the director, the producer, the studio, the agent. But the thing that the young writer has over the established writer is that he's an unknown quantity.

I did the treatment for Boulevard Nights (1979) as a class assignment. Paul Schrader pulled me aside and told me how commercial it was. Strange because it was personal, I didn't think it would sell. Later. he helped me get an agent for it, even though I ultimately made the deal myself.

Paul Schrader is an incredibly fine teacher, very concerned with structure and form. He would tear apart each script scene by scene to show how to work the build. But, more than that, he taught me that it's the writers who take the risks who are great.

Bombastic writing often shows the best as well as the worst in a writer. It's crude, but it's also daring.