TODD KOMARNICKI is a prolific writer, producer and director of film and television as well as the acclaimed novelist of Free, Famine and War.
Komarnicki’s screenplays include SULLY directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks, which opened at #1 in the box office to rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film went on to earn over $240 million worldwide, was a 2016 AFI Top Ten Film, and won best foreign film at the Japan Academy Awards.
Komarnicki has also written PERFECT STRANGER starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry, and co-written THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN, starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn.
His current projects include THE SIMON KEITH PROJECT for legendary producer Frank Marshall; GOD’S SPY, the true life story of pastor-turned-spy Dietrich Bonhoeffer, filming in the Spring of 2020; MERCURY 13, a TV pilot about the first female astronauts which is being produced by Jessica Chastain and is setup at ABC; and THE GREATEST GIFT, the true story behind the film classic “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
Komarnicki has also directed RESISTANCE, starring Julia Ormond and Bill Paxton, which Komarnicki adapted from an Anita Shreve novel. Komarnicki is next set to direct MIKE’S PLACE, the true story of an international terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, which he is also producing with Antoine Fuqua.
Komarnicki is the president & founder of the production company Guy Walks Into A Bar, who produced the Christmas blockbuster ELF starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau. The film amassed over $220 million worldwide, and has become a perennial favorite every Christmas season. To date, Guy Walks Into A Bar films have earned over half a billion dollars at the box office, worldwide.
JONATHAN COLEMAN is Executive Vice President at Guy Walks Into A Bar. For 11 years he has worked to develop and produce the company’s film and television projects, including SULLY (Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks) SNOW DRAGON (Flashlight Films), as well as forthcoming television projects MERCURY 13 (Jessica Chastain, ABC) and ALL APOLOGIES (MGM).
He is a graduate of Wheaton College where he studied Film and created several award winning shorts.
In addition to his film and television work, Jonathan is an accomplished Voiceover Artist, producing work for IMAX, Audible, Vanderbilt University, and the U.S. Government.
He makes his home in Manhattan.
SETH PARKS is Director of Development at Guy Walks Into A Bar. He pulled up a seat as personal assistant 4 years ago, and was elevated to Director of Development in 2018. Seth has supported the development of numerous TV and Film projects: thrillers, sitcoms, historical dramas, biopics, and everything in between.
Seth is a graduate of The King’s College NYC where he studied Media, Culture, and the Arts, with a focus in Film. He began his film career on the documentary “Work & Happiness” for PBS. When he’s not at the Bar you can find him on his surfboard, margarita in hand, carving up the waves.
1 cup chilled Prosecco (Italian sparkling white wine)
2 tablespoons chilled vodka
1/3 cup frozen lemon sorbet
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh mint leaves
Pour the Prosecco and vodka into 2 Champagne flutes, dividing equally. Spoon a scoop of sorbet into each flute. Sprinkle with mint and serve immediately
Ingredients:
1 oz gin
1 oz Campari
3/4 oz Carpana Antica
Combine all ingredients in an ice filled shaker. Shake until well chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel.
1½ ounces amaro (preferably Nonino)
1½ ounces Aperol
1½ ounces bourbon
1½ ounces fresh lemon juice, strained
Lemon peel or olive
Combine amaro, Aperol, bourbon, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake vigorously until outside of shaker is frosty, about 20 seconds. Strain into 2 coupe glasses.
SNOW DRAGON: Todd Komarnicki has been tapped to write the international action thriller “Snow Dragon,” reuniting him with “Sully” producer Allyn Stewart. The pic is the untold true story of a Chinese ice-breaker on a scientific expedition that heroically rescued a group of 74 Australian, British, and Russian nationals on a chartered Russian vessel, which had become trapped in Antarctic ice. In an impossible race against the clock, the ship’s crew risked their own lives to save the passengers, who were between the ages of 12 and 78, as fast-moving icebergs came closer to sinking the stranded vessel.
-VARIETY
MIKE’S PLACE: Antoine Fuqua and “Sully” writer Todd Komarnicki are developing a film about the 2003 terrorist attack at Mike’s Place, a beachside blues bar in Israel. Komarnicki will produce through his Guy Walks Into a Bar banner and also direct from a script by Tony Spiridakis. The duo optioned the 2004 documentary “Blues by the Beach,” directed by Joshua Faudem, and the film rights to Jack Baxter’s 2015 graphic novel “Mike’s Place: A True Story of Love, Blues and Terror in Tel Aviv.” The filmmakers have also obtained Baxter’s life rights.
-VARIETY
Sully: “The movie is on its way to becoming director Clint Eastwood’s third top-grossing title in North America behind ‘American Sniper’ and ‘Gran Torino,’ and also is one of Tom Hanks’ highest-grossing films in recent times.”
Elf: “Will Ferrell graduates to his first solo leading role with flying colors in a holiday comedy about a clueless innocent who saves Christmas and fosters a renewed sense of family in his reluctant father. Sweet-natured outsider fantasy neither skimps on nor overplays its sentimentality, which should make it a major family audience draw through the holidays.”
– VARIETY
Professor and the Madman: “Mel Gibson is starring in “The Professor and the Madman” about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary…Gibson is also producing the film nearly two decades after he acquired the movie rights to the Simon Winchester book. Farhad Safinia will direct the drama with plans to start shooting in September in Europe.”
-VARIETY
The Search:“Written by Komarnicki, the untitled project, inspired by a true story, follows the life of the world’s leading finder of missing persons as he searches nonstop, driven by the one person he could not find in time…his own daughter. Komarnicki executive produces with Gulfstream Pictures’ Karz and Bindley as well as Mark Clayman (The Pursuit Of Happyness).”
-DEADLINE
