Nizar Wattad

Nizar Wattad is an Arab-American writer and producer, raised in East Tennessee. He was tapped to create one of the first new original series for Netflix International for their entre into the Middle East. Nizar earned a Masters in screenwriting from the University of Southern California in 2006. While at USC, he began his ongoing collaboration with Golden Globe winner / two-time Oscar nominated director Hany Abu-Assad. Recently, Nizar has served as lead writer and executive producer on an upcoming animated series targeted at Muslim children worldwide, in collaboration with Pocoyo director Alfonso Rodriguez. Nizar has developed two TV series with Element 8 Entertainment - a crime drama set in Jordan (in collaboration with Sky Vision), and an American legal thriller series based on the best-selling Joe Dillard books. Walt Disney Pictures recruited Nizar to write the first Arabic-language film ever produced by a major studio (The United, Touchstone 2012). He created a story for iOS game Tribal Rivals, which debuted at #1 in the App Store in 2014 and has also collaborated on an interactive multimedia story installation with Detroit art collective Complex Movements. Wattad's work was chosen for the 2008 Sundance RAWI Lab, 2010 Dubai Film Connection, and 2016 Sundance Producers Summit. He has also taught screenwriting & performing arts for Elon University, produced the first ever compilation of Arab-American hip-hop, and hosted live performances, lectures & workshops around the world.