Jonathan H. Keasey
A screenwriter and attorney whose work moves between Hollywood, Dublin, and the courthouse.
A licensed attorney and Hollywood screenwriter, Jonathan Keasey joined the Writers Guild of America in 2012 and has spent the years since pulling stories out of difficult corners — the machinery of the legal system, the long shadow of war, the quiet violence of bureaucracy. He has written and produced for Warner Bros., Sony, Columbia, Paramount, A&E, and Lifetime, and contributed to international television including The Wavez and Gamergate, both Sony productions. He works out of Los Angeles, with travel — increasingly — to Dublin.
His recent feature credits include Parallel (2024, with Danielle Deadwyler, Aldis Hodge, and Edwin Hodge) and Tow (2025, with Rose Byrne, Octavia Spencer, Ariana DeBose, and Demi Lovato — premiered at the Tribeca Festival). Both films share what one reviewer called “a stirring Erin Brockovich energy” — a willingness to put a person against a system and let the audience watch the unequal fight.
The Adaptation
Currently, Keasey is adapting Tobias Wolff's celebrated novella The Barracks Thief, a slim and bracing book that won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1985 and is anthologized in the writer's collected works. The project began development in 2024. Wolff is one of the most precise short-fiction stylists writing in English; the adaptation is a careful undertaking, and one Keasey describes as an honor.
“A story hunter, screenwriter and producer — having honed his craft for over a decade.” — from the WGA profile
The Lectern
Since 2023, Keasey has taught a screenwriting masterclass at Trinity College Dublin. The arrangement returned him to the classroom after earlier stints at Seattle University and The Film School, where he served as executive director of the Inmates Screenwriting Initiative — a program that brought story craft into a correctional setting. In 2024 he delivered keynotes at Screen Ireland and Creative Europe.
The Law
Long before the screenwriting career, there was a JD from Washington University (with an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington). Keasey holds an active license to practice and has spent eight years doing pro bono work with Judges for Justice, an organization focused on wrongful-conviction appeals. In 2024 he received the Voice for Justice Award from the Center for Justice and Post Exoneration Assistance — the same year he was lecturing in Dublin and adapting Wolff. It has been, by most measures, a full year.
Selected Work
- 2027Wings of FreedomConcept & story · StudioCanal
- 2025TowCo-writer · Tribeca premiere
- 2024ParallelCo-producer / writer · Vertical
- In devThe Barracks ThiefAdapting Tobias Wolff
- TVThe WavezSony Pictures
- TVGamergateSony Pictures
Teaching & Honors
- 2024Voice for Justice AwardCenter for Justice and Post Exoneration Assistance
- 2024KeynoteScreen Ireland · Creative Europe
- 2023–Screenwriting masterclassTrinity College Dublin
- PastExecutive DirectorInmates Screenwriting Initiative, The Film School