Joe Robert Cole


Joe Robert Cole is an American film director, screenwriter, film editor, actor, television writer and television producer. He is best known for his Emmy Award-nominated and Writers Guild of America Award-winning work on the first season of the true crime anthology television series American Crime Story, titled , and for co-writing the film Black Panther.

Early life

Cole, an only child, moved around a lot growing up, which he felt "prepared" him to be a writer, a desire he only discovered during college. He soon applied to the University of California, Berkeley.

Career

During his tenure at the university, Cole entered the film business, working as a writer on the 2006 film ATL, although not receiving a credit. In 2011, he released his first feature film as a director and writer, Amber Lake.

Marvel Studios' program

After writing a "Chinatown-style cop script", Cole was invited to a meeting with Marvel Studios, where he was told that they had plans of doing a movie about the character War Machine. He pitched a story and was chosen to write the film, but, according to him, "they decided, based on what Iron Man 3 was going to be, they weren't going to do War Machine anymore." Marvel subsequently invited him to join its writers program.
In regards to the program, Cole said:
In 2014, Cole wrote a script for a projected movie about the Inhumans.

Television

In 2016, the television series American Crime Story was released. Cole served as co-producer of the first season, , and wrote two episodes, "The Race Card" and "A Jury in Jail".

''Black Panther''

While working on The People v. O. J. Simpson, Cole was approached by Marvel Studios' producer Nate Moore, wanting to know if he was willing to write a film about Black Panther. He immediately accepted. Cole was part of a competition, but was ultimately chosen to write the screenplay with director Ryan Coogler.

Filmography

Film

Television