Brian Koppelman
Screenwriting advice in six seconds or less
Introduction
Brian Koppelman is an American writer, director, and producer, whose credits include Rounders, Ocean’s Thirteen, Runaway Jury, and Runner Runner. In addition to this, he hosts a weekly podcast, called The Moment, on ESPN radio, in which he interviews celebrities in various creative fields about “the moment” that changed the course of their careers.
Of all his accomplishments, Rounders is arguably his most recognizable. The film has a remarkable legacy; it helped to launch the poker boom of the early 2000s and has generated a cult following in the years since its release. More than that, Rounders serves as a testament to Koppelman’s approach to his craft. This screenplay was Koppelman’s first and was the direct result of his desire to put art out into the world, exemplifying his passion for writing, while the meticulous research that went into its development highlights his dedication and penchant for authenticity. As a whole, the film gives a good sense of who Koppelman is as a writer: a passionate creative mind who is unafraid to take risks.
What unifies every part of my journey is that I always lead with my curiosity, obsession, or fascination.
– Brian Koppelman
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Dr. Sekoul Krastev is a decision scientist and Co-Founder of The Decision Lab, one of the world's leading behavioral science consultancies. His team works with large organizations—Fortune 500 companies, governments, foundations and supernationals—to apply behavioral science and decision theory for social good. He holds a PhD in neuroscience from McGill University and is currently a visiting scholar at NYU. His work has been featured in academic journals as well as in The New York Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg. He is also the author of Intention (Wiley, 2024), a bestselling book on the science of human agency. Before founding The Decision Lab, he worked at the Boston Consulting Group and Google.
