Daniel Petrie, Jr.’s first script sale was the provocative The Big Easy, starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin; his first produced screenplay was the box‐office hit Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy. Beverly Hills Cop brought Petrie an Oscar® nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Petrie, who has dual Canadian and U.S. citizenship, branched out into producing with the thriller Shoot to Kill, starring Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenger, which he also co‐wrote. Next, he co‐wrote and executive produced Turner & Hooch, which starred Tom Hanks. Both films were financed and released by Walt Disney Studio’s Touchstone Pictures division and were directed by Roger Spottiswoode
Petrie’s first outing as a director was the Tri‐Star film Toy Soldiers, starring Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, and Louis Gossett, Jr., which he also co‐wrote. Back at Disney, Petrie co‐wrote and directed In the Army Now, starring Pauly Shore, Andy Dick and David Alan Greer. Petrie then directed the ABC pilot Toe Tags, starring Barry Pepper, and directed the HBO film Dead Silence, staring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, which became the fifth highest rated HBO Original up to that point in the network’s history.
Petrie then served as executive producer of The 6th Day, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Duvall and Tony Goldwyn, which reunited Petrie with director Roger Spottiswoode.
Petrie’s next project as director was the TNT thriller Framed, starring Rob Lowe and Sam Neill; Petrie also wrote the screenplay, based on a British mini‐series by Lynda La Plante.
In 2008, Petrie and co‐writers Ann Peacock and Camille Thomasson received Christopher Awards for their adaptation of the Newbery Honor book Pictures of Hollis Woods for the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The production, starring Sissy Spacek and Alfre Woodard, was also acknowledged by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as a recipient of the inaugural Television Academy Honors, honoring “television with a conscience.”
Currently, Petrie and his partner Rick Dugdale are developing several film and television projects for their new venture, Enderby Entertainment. Named for Dugdale’s hometown in British Columbia, Dugdale and Petrie created Enderby Entertainment to be an independent film company with an old‐fashioned emphasis on good storytelling, on the creative side, and total transparency, on the financial side.
In addition, Petrie is working with Kings Road Productions, which made the original The Big Easy, on a remake of the film. Petrie is writing the new screenplay, which, while staying true to the spirit of the original, will take into account the vastly different post‐ Katrina landscape of New Orleans. Petrie is also slated to serve as Executive Producer.
Petrie inherits a tradition of volunteer service to the motion picture and television industry from his father, the late director and long time Directors Guild board member Daniel Petrie, Sr., and mother, producer and long time Producers Guild board member Dorothea Petrie. Daniel Petrie, Jr. has a long history of service to the Writers Guild of America west, serving two terms each as President (1997‐99 and 2004‐2005) and as Vice President (1995‐97 and 1999‐2001).
Petrie also follows in his father’s footsteps by serving on the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute. In addition, Petrie, who is a former member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, serves on the Academy’s Writers Branch Executive Committee as well as on the Academy Foundation’s Festival Grants and Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting committees.
Petrie continues his service to past, present and future screen, television and new media writers as the Writers Guild Foundation’s Vice President for Programs. Petrie chaired the Foundation’s New Library committee, helping to raise the funds for and supervise the design and construction of the Writers Guild Foundation‐Shavelson‐Webb Library, which opened its doors in 2005. Located on the ground floor of the WGAw headquarters in Los Angeles, the new library, which houses a uniquely comprehensive collection of notable screen and television scripts, is a source of inspiration to established and aspiring writers alike. Petrie is also an active participant in the Foundation’s John Furia, Jr. Visiting Writers Program.
In the fall of 2009, Petrie created and moderated the Foundation’s popular “Notes on Craft,” a series of Tuesday evening seminars on the building blocks of screenwriting: Concept, Characters, Structure, Tone & Voice, Scene & Dialog and Rewriting. Panelists included Michael Brandt & Derek Haas, Melissa Rosenberg, Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, John August, Robert Nelson Jacobs, Robin Swicord, Scott Z. Burns, Nicholas Kazan and Scott Frank. Demand for the sold‐out series, the proceeds of which benefited the Foundation, was so great that a second series is planned for 2010.
In a similar vein, Petrie is an active volunteer with the Austin Film Festival and Screenwriters Conference. In addition to frequent appearances as a panelist during the festival itself, Petrie has worked with the Festival’s Writers Ranch program and participated in the Festival’s Conversations on Film series. Most recently, Petrie taught a group of Austin high school teachers the fundamentals of screenwriting so they in turn could teach classes in Storytelling through Film, part of the Festival’s Young Filmmakers Program.
Petrie lives in Los Angeles with his wife of twenty‐nine years, Constance Petrie.
