Nicholas Weinstock

Nicholas Weinstock (also known as Nicky Weinstock) is an American producer and author. Best known for developing and producing Severance, Bridesmaids, Escape at Dannemora, and Thelma, Weinstock is the founder and president of Invention, an international production company based in Hollywood.^[1][2]

Early life and education

Weinstock was born in New York City on July 26, 1969. His mother is the author Elizabeth Hawes, a long-time editor at The New Yorker. His father is Davis Weinstock II.

Weinstock graduated with honors from Harvard University, traveling extensively in Europe and Africa as an undergraduate.^[3] Fluent in French, Italian and Swahili, Weinstock studied in Paris and Bologna; spent a semester at the University of Nairobi; and conducted anthropology research in western Kenya. In 1992 he was awarded a Rotary Scholarship to study at the University of Botswana, where he attended graduate school in literature, and at the University of Cape Town, where he studied fiction under Nobel Prize laureate J.M. Coetzee.

Career

Publishing

On return from South Africa, Weinstock worked as an editor at Random House and Riverhead Books before becoming a full-time author. His publications include the nonfiction book The Secret Love of Sons; the novels As Long As She Needs Me and The Golden Hour; and articles and essays in magazines including The New York Times Magazine, The Nation, Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and GQ.

Speechwriting

In 2000 Weinstock was hired by Peter Chernin, then president of News Corporation, to serve as Director of Corporate Communications. A year later, upon his promotion to Vice President of Corporate Communications, Weinstock became chief speechwriter for the Chairman of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch.

Producing

In 2004 Weinstock moved to Los Angeles to join 20th Television (then 20th Century Fox Television) as Vice President of Comedy Development. In 2007 Weinstock was tapped to run Apatow Productions alongside director Judd Apatow, where he oversaw Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, Get Him to the Greek, and Bridesmaids. Two years later, Weinstock reunited with Peter Chernin to serve as Senior Vice President at the launch of Chernin Entertainment. In 2015 Weinstock partnered with actor/director Ben Stiller as the Creative Head of Red Hour Films.

In 2016, while heading Red Hour, Weinstock discovered and developed the series Severance, nominated for 14 Emmy Awards in its first season and 27 in its second.^[4][5][6] Weinstock continues to serve as Executive Producer of the series.

In addition to Severance, under Weinstock’s leadership, Red Hour released the films Alex Strangelove, The Package, Plus One, Dinner in America and Queenpins, along with the series In the Dark, which ran for four seasons on the CW and Netflix, and Escape at Dannemora, which was aired on Showtime and nominated for 12 Emmy Awards.^[7]

In 2021 Weinstock founded Invention, an independent production company with executives in Los Angeles, Australia, Kenya and Uganda. Under the Invention banner, Weinstock is developing projects with Apple TV+, FX, Fifth Season, Fremantle, Mattel Studios, Tomorrow Studios, Gaumont (Italy), Windlight Pictures and BriskPace (Germany), Atlantique Productions (France), Easy Tiger (Australia), Greenstone TV (New Zealand), Good Bad Films (India), AAA Entertainment (South Africa), Khumo Studios (Botswana), and more.

In 2024 Weinstock produced Thelma, casting 94-year-old June Squibb in the first leading role of her career. Invention's inaugural feature, Thelma was distributed by Magnolia Pictures and Universal Studios, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.^[8] The same year, Invention announced two independent films: In Memoriam, directed by Rob Burnett and starring Marc Maron, Sharon Stone, Lily Gladstone, and Justin Long; and The Saviors, directed by Kevin Hamedani and starring Adam Scott, Danielle Deadwyler and Greg Kinnear.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In 2025 Weinstock partnered with Glassriver on the Iceland-set series Masquerade, a prestige thriller about an American reporter, created by celebrated Icelandic writer Andri Ottarsson (Case).^[13] With projects in development in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Rwanda and more, Weinstock is one of the only American producers with a premium international slate and global reach.

Policy work and advocacy

Renown for supporting emerging writers like Dan Erickson (Severance), Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Weinstock is committed to nurturing extraordinary talent and democratizing industry access. In 2019 he founded Craft Services, a first-of-its-kind creative incubator and online community for screenwriters worldwide. Craft Services has over 1000 members in the US, UK, EU, Canada, Mexico, India, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Kenya, Iceland, Malaysia and beyond.^[14][15][16]

In 2023 Weinstock created an Australian comedy incubator, designed to support the country's boldest new comedic talent. In 2024 he launched a multi-year creative initiative in Nairobi, dedicated to propelling Kenya’s top screenwriters.^[17][18][19]

To honor his impact on the Kenyan film industry, Weinstock was invited to attend the 2024 State Dinner at the White House, hosted by President Joe Biden in honor of Kenyan President William Ruto.^[20] In 2025 Weinstock delivered the keynote address of the inaugural US-Kenya Economic Forum in Nairobi.^[21]

Weinstock serves on the boards of the Authors Guild in New York;^[22] the annual Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Lagos, Nigeria; Pavillon Afriques, the Cannes Film Festival's platform for pan-African cinema;^[23] Harvardwood, a nonprofit organization for graduates of Harvard University interested in the creative arts and entertainment;^[24] and Get Lit, a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles devoted to increasing literacy and energizing communities through spoken word poetry.^[25]

Awards and accolades

Weinstock has developed and produced series that, cumulatively, have been nominated for 53 Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2022 he was elected to the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as a juror of the International Emmy Awards. The same year Severance, which Weinstock executive produces, won its first two Primetime Emmys. The series — a recipient of a Peabody Award, a Writers Guild Award for Best Drama Series, a Golden Globe, and a Critics Choice Super Award — was nominated for 27 Emmys in 2025.^[26][5]