Derek Kolstad (born April 4, 1974) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He is the creator of the John Wick franchise, which began in 2014. He continued to write for the first two sequels of the franchise and is mainly known as a screenwriter of action films and shows.
Kolstad sold a script titled Scorn to Thunder Road Pictures, which signed Keanu Reeves for the lead role in April 2013. At Reeves' suggestion, the film was renamed John Wick after the title character,[2] whom Kolstad had named after his maternal grandfather.[3] The film was released in 2014 and was followed by John Wick: Chapter 2 in 2017 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum in 2019.[4] Kolstad wrote the video game John Wick: Chronicles and was involved with the creation of a comic book series.[5] However, he was not asked by the studio to continue writing for the fourth or subsequent films.[6]
In 2017, it was reported that Kolstad would write a live-action television adaptation of the Hitman franchise as well as an action-thriller titled The Steward.[7][8][9] In 2019, it was reported that Kolstad would write and produce a live-action film adaptation of the Just Cause franchise.[10] In 2020, Netflix announced that Kolstad would be an executive producer and writer on a Splinter Cellanime series.[11] In 2021, Kolstad was hired to write the screenplay for a live-action adaptation of Hellsing for Amazon Prime Video.[12]