Joseph C. Stinson

Joseph C. Stinson is a screenwriter whose credits include Sudden Impact and City Heat as well as numerous production rewrites, dialogue polishes and development deals.  His line of dialogue “Go ahead, make my day.” is included in Bartlett’s familiar Quotations and has been honored by the American Film Institute as one of the hundred all-time most memorable film quotes.  Placing sixth, it was the only line in the top half dozen written in the past quarter century.

He is also the author of the novelizations of his screenplays for Sudden Impact and Heartbreak Ridge.

He has been a guest lecturer and workshop instructor at several film festivals, high schools, universities and film schools including The American Film Institute in Los Angeles, CA.

In addition, he has been an Adjunct Professor of Screenwriting at Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal School of Media Arts and Design in Philadelphia and at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Previous to screenwriting, he wrote movie trailers as well as copylines for movie posters.  Before that, he worked in the theatre as an actor, director and playwright.  Additionally, he was Artistic Director of the Manning Street Actors Theatre (Philadelphia, PA) and a producing partner of Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival.

He has been a member of the Writers Guild of America since 1983 and the Mystery Writers of America since 1982.