Christine Conradt is originally from Lincoln, Nebraska but moved to Los Angeles upon being accepted at the University of Southern California’s esteemed School of Cinema-Television, where she became one of 24 students to enter the undergraduate screenwriting program in the fall of 1992. While there, she made the Dean’s List, was awarded an academic scholarship, received the Fox 2000 Screenwriting Fellowship, and won the Marguerite Roberts Screenwriting Award for Women for her thesis screenplay Shubert. In 1996, she graduated with a BFA in screenwriting and began her career as a film industry “temp” working for independent producers as well as studios like Paramount Pictures, Sony, and Twentieth Century Fox.
She briefly accepted a permanent administrative position at Twentieth Century Fox before moving on to Image Organization, Inc., a now defunct independent film company located in Hollywood, to work as a Creative Assistant to producer Clark Peterson (Scanners 2, Monster). During that time, she assisted Mr. Peterson on the set of A Table for One (aka Wicked Ways) that starred Michael Rooker and Rebecca de Mornay. Eight months after her arrival, Image Organization was sold and merged with Mark Damon Productions in the late 1990s, giving birth to Behaviour Worldwide. Christine left Behaviour to try her hand at writing and penned her first feature, The Perfect Nanny, starring Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Nelson, a thriller which aired on the USA Network in 2000.
In 2002, Christine’s original spec screenplay titled Walter’s Black Book about a serial killer, placed seventh in the Writer’s Digest Annual Screenplay Competition. Two years later, her original episode of Law & Order: SVU that never sold to the network, received honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest Teleplay Contest in 2004.
During this time, she also worked as a reader and consultant for several independent production and distribution companies until she landed her second television feature, A Killer Upstairs, in 2004 for Lance Entertainment. The film shot in Ottawa, Canada and aired on the Lifetime Network in 2005. The relationship between producers at Lance worked well and Christine went on to write A Lover’s Revenge, which also aired on Lifetime in October 2005, and starred Alexandra Paul, Billy Moses, and Gabrielle Carteris.
In 2003, she met the producers at Integration Entertainment who hired her to write a sequel to a low budget gang drama titled Ghetto Dawg. Christine penned a script and the film, shot in New York, was released straight-to-video as Ghetto Dawg 2: Out of the Pits in November of 2005.
That year also marked a third thriller for Lance Entertainment– Murder in My House– which went into production in September. The producers invited Christine to the set in Ottawa where she met leads Gary Hudson and Barbara Niven. Murder in My House premiered on Lifetime in June 2006.
Her fourth t.v. movie for Lifetime was titled The Perfect Marriage and stars Jamie Luner as a black widow who marries wealthy men and murders them. Principal photography on The Perfect Marriage wrapped in December of ‘05 and the movie aired in May 2006.
In 2005, Christine played a “zombie” in the horror film Last Rites (released in 2006 straight to DVD as Gangs of the Dead), co-produced by long time friend and horror director Todd Ocvirk. On the set, she met Geraldo Iglesias (Carnivale) and agreed to help him write a short film that he wanted to produce. The short, titled Partners, directed by music video director Geo Santini, and starring David Wachs, showed at the Latino Film Festival in Los Angeles in October 2005. In January 2006, Conradt closed a deal to pen the feature-length version with Santini attached to direct. The film, Hotel California, has been shot and is scheduled for release in March 2010. It stars Tyson Beckford, Simon Rex, Erik Palladino, and Tatyana Ali.
The creative team at Lance Entertainment came together again, this time without Ken Sanders who left to begin his own production company Ken Sanders Productions. Replaced by screenwriter/producer David DeCrane, they asked Christine to rewrite The Rival, a thriller about a woman who becomes jealous of the surrogate she hired to carry her baby. The film, starring Tracy Nelson, Linden Ashby, and daytime soap star Heather Tom, wrapped in May 2006 and will premiered on Lifetime in October 2006.
Demons From Her Past, starring Alexandra Paul as a woman who goes back to her hometown in Philadelphia to confront the men who framed her for a crime she didn’t commit when she was just a teenager, wrapped principal photography in July 2006 and aired in January 2007 on Lifetime.
In August 2006, Christine returned to Canada to do last minute rewrites during prep for Like Mother, Like Daughter, starring Young & the Restless star Michelle Stafford, Billy Moses, and Dani Kind. The film wrapped in late August. Framed For Murder, which she inherited to do a few rewrites, finished shooting in October and was followed by‘Til Lies Do Us Part, the second to last film to go into principal photography last year. The last film of 2006, Christie’s Revenge, wrapped on December 22nd and premiered on Lifetime on June 24, 2007.
In the summer of 2006, Christine wrote a short screenplay horror/thriller titled Secrets & Shadows. The screenplay fared well in the competition arena, making it to finals in the American Gem Screenplay Competition, semi-finals in the Shriekfest 2006 Short Screenplay Competition, and receiving Honorable Mention in the Eerie Horror Fest Film Festival Short Screenplay Competition.
In May 2007, Christine’s first project of the year for Lifetime, titled My Daughter’s Secret began principal photography. The film stars Jennifer Grant (daughter of Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon), Nina Dobrev, and Steve Byers. In May, Christine was hired to rewrite the second Lifetime movie on Pierre David’s production slate, The Perfect Assistant. The film which starred Josie Davis and Rachel Hunter, wrapped principal photography in August ‘07. In the same month, she finished rewriting a script for Pierre David and Tom Berry, tentatively titled Sister-in-Law. That film, starring Cyndy Preston and Brandy Ledford, wrapped in September. Her third film of the year, titled Her Only Child, wrapped in October and stars Nicholle Tom as a young woman under the thumb of her overbearing mother. The fourth film, titled A Teacher’s Crime, wrapped in November of 2007 and starred Ashley Jones as a teacher who becomes the subject of a blackmail plot. The final film of the year, Dead at 17, wrapped in December and aired for the first time on Lifetime during the summer of 2008.
In mid 2007, Christine inked a deal with France-based producer Andre Koob to write the feature-length companion piece to cult classic horror film “Cannibal Holocaust.” The film is tentatively titled “Cannibals.” Famed director Ruggero Deodato, who directed the original, is attached. The film is currently on hold.
In May 2008, production wrapped on “A Sister’s Revenge,” a script written by Canada natives Bruce Davis and Sean Parker and rewritten by Christine. The film stars Alexandra Paul and Cynthia Preston and premiered on LMN in September 2009.
In September 2008, principal photography wrapped on a horror/thriller tentatively tilted Summer’s Moon. The script was originally written by British writer Sean Hogan and rewritten by Christine. The film shot in Canada and stars Peter Mooney, Barbara Niven, Stephen McHattie and Ashley Greene. It was directed by Canadian horror director Lee DeMarbre. Summer’s Moon (formerly titled “Summer” and retitled “Summer’s Blood” before being released by Lionsgate as “Summer’s Moon”) hit the DVD shelves in November 2009.
November 2008 marked the beginning of principal photography on Christine’s 19th movie for Lifetime network. Titled A Nanny’s Secret, it stars Haylie Duff as a college student/nanny who begins to suspect that her estranged younger brother may have robbed the family she works for. In addition to Haylie, the film boasts an impressive cast: Jon McLaren, Eric Johnson, Jessica Steen, and Dillon Casey. Shot in Ottawa with a mid-December wrap, the film premiered on September 12, 2009 on LMN.
In April 2009, the creative folks behind Summer’s Moon came together once again to produce Stripped Naked, an indie feature about a jaded exotic dancer who happens to find a great deal of money in a drug deal gone bad. Also shot in Ottawa, the film stars Sarah Allen, John Cor, and Linden Ashby. It was well received at Cannes and a distribution deal is currently in the works.
While working on the April 2009 films, Christine joined forces again with Ken Sanders to write Accused at 17, about a group of three teenaged girls in Los Angeles who retaliate against a fourth girl who slept with one of the girls’ boyfriends. That film stars Nicole Gayle Anderson, Cynthia Gibb, Stella Maeve, and Linden Ashby. The film wrapped in June 2009 and will be released in 2010. Shortly after wrapping on Accused at 17 Christine and Ken Sanders decided to team up again and shot another teen-focused thriller called Locked Away which wrapped in Los Angeles in February 2010.
In July 2009, another low-budget thriller penned by Christine, tentatively titled My Family’s Secret went into production in Canada. While finishing up rewrites on that script, Christine signed a deal to write The Perfect Teacher, a teen thriller being developed by Lance Entertainment, Lifetime Network, and Zed Filmworks. The original concept came from Greg Henn, a young L.A.-based writer who was in college at the time. The film stars David Charvet, Megan Park, and Boti Bliss, and wrapped principal photography in May 2010.
November 2009 marked another production in Canada involving Christine. The Boy She Met Online, a t.v. movie starring Jon Cor, Tracy Spiridakos, and Alexandra Paul about a teenage girl who, without her mother’s knowledge, meets a young man online who turns out to be a far cry from the sports-minded college guy she thinks he is. The Boy She Met Online wrapped in December of 2009 and premiered in 2010.
In 2011, Christine saw four more of her films come to life when Secrets from Her Past starring Michael Woods, Ashley Jones, and Antonio Sabato, jr., was produced in Canada just after The Perfect Roommate starring Boti Bliss and Ashley Leggat. Christine remained in Los Angeles during that time, working on another film she wrote titled Home Invasion which starred Haylie Duff and C. Thomas Howell. Conradt also served as Executive Producer on that picture.
The fourth film of 2011 was No One To Blame which brought together a terrific cast of young actors including Andy Fischer-Price, Amanda Bauer, Katie Gill, Blaise Emery, and Jake Thomas as well as t.v. veterans Alexandra Paul, Joe Penney and Paula Trickey. No One To Blame, which also marked Christine’s debut as Second Unit Director, wrapped in April of 2011.
In addition to her television and film work, Christine is a contributor to the comprehensive movie site tailslate.net and has ghostwritten several children’s books for the L.A.-based publishing company EECI, Inc. In the past, she’s coordinated and directed a children’s summer film camp for the Westchester Family YMCA in west Los Angeles, and frequently gives writing workshops both in the U.S. and Canada.
Xion Entertainment 