The Rep Files: Interview with Lit Manager John Zaozirny

My friend John Zaozirny generously shared his experience, advice and thoughts with me on everything from the importance of query letters to the impact that the Coverfly closure and changes to The Nicholl are likely to have (or not!).

John Zaozirny oversees the feature film production slate for Bellevue and the Literary Management Team.

His clients’ writing and directing credits include COBWEB, INFINITE, PARALLEL, ELI, BAD MATCH, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022), HEAVY TRIP, OFFICE UPRISING, JOLT, and SPLINTER amongst others. His clients have written feature scripts that are set up at Warner Bros, Paramount, Fox, Lionsgate, New Line, Focus Features, Fox 2000, Sony, Universal, amongst others. As well, his clients have had 37 scripts on the last ten Black Lists, the annual list of the best unproduced feature scripts, including BLONDE AMBITION, the number one script on the 2016 Black List, HEADHUNTER, the number one script on the 2020 Black List, and CAULIFLOWER, the number one script on the 2021 Black List.

His clients have written on TV shows such as FBI INTERNATIONAL, BOSCH: LEGACY, MR ROBOT, KIFF, SHANTARAM, TRAINING DAY, TINY PRETTY THINGS, HAWAII FIVE-O, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE and HAND OF GOD, amongst others. He also reps the writer of the Eisner-nominated comic book LITTLE BIRD.

As a producer, John’s feature film projects include CRISTO (set up at Warner Bros, Black List 2010), WARDEN (set up at New Line) CAPSULE (set up at Fox, Black List 2013), BLONDE AMBITION (set up at Universal, Black List 2016), and LIONHUNTERS (set up at Warner Bros, Black List 2017.) He was an executive producer on the feature films ALWAYS WATCHING and PARALLEL and produced ELI, which was released by Netflix in 2019. He most recently produced Paramount’s INFINITE, which was directed by Antoine Fuqua and starred Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Dylan O’Brien, was released on Paramount Plus in 2021.

Raised in Vancouver, Canada, John is a graduate of the Tisch Film and Television program at New York University.