Biography

Joe Forte is the creator and writer of Firewall (2006) which stars Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany and Virginia Madsen and the director of the documentary The Man Who Saved Ben-Hur (2015) which premiered at the Hot Springs Film Festival and streams on Amazon.

Active Projects include Girl In A Box (A&E), Old Country (MGM) and BackTrack (Sony) all with wife and co-writer Meg LeFauve (Inside Out, Captain Marvel).

Currently, Forte and LeFauve have an exclusive, multi-year overall deal with Netflix Films to write and direct for the streamer. They have been writing as a team since 2020, both features and TV - for studious such as Sony, MGM Amazon and A&E.

A graduate of NYU film school, Forte began his screenwriting career with the sale of Soviet Cowboy, an original screenplay he wrote for two-time Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster and her production company, Egg Pictures. He went on to sell The Great Mahala, to Warner Bros. Pictures and rewrite The Murderer Next Door for Sony Pictures who subsequently signed him to a writing/directing deal. Other works include: Velvet Underground, an independent feature which he developed with Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron; an adaptation of the novel Out by Natsuo Kirino (New Line), winner of Japan's top mystery award; Flashpoint, an epic drama set in the world of wild land fire fighters for Paramount; as well as multiple televisions pilot deals at Twentieth Century Fox.

Before beginning his career in Hollywood, Forte worked for advertising agencies in both New York and Los Angeles. His tenure included stints at Scali, McCabe, Sloves, Saatchi & Saatchi, Foote, Cone, Belding, and Daily & Partners. While at Scali, Forte was nominated for a Clio for his work on Volvo. He has also won several awards for his short films, including two Cine Golden Eagles and a grant from Mobil Oil. He has served as a mentor, teacher and panelist for Cinestory, Austin Film Festival, the UCLA Graduate Film Program, the UCLA Extension Program, the Sedona Film Festival, the Sonoma Film Festival, Pitch Fest U.S.A,, California State University Channel Islands, as well as a script consult on projects for Film Victoria and New South Wales, the film funding bodies for the government of Australia. He is featured in the documentary Tales of the Script and is the Producer of the award-winning festival film, Say I Do. He is a Film Independent Fellow and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
- IMDb mini biography by: Joe Forte