Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely


Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are American screenwriters and producers. McFeely and Markus were the second and the third most successful screenwriters of all time in terms of U.S. box office receipts with a shared total gross of over $3.1 billion. However, in overall, they are the highest grossing screenwriters altogether in terms of worldwide box office with the total gross of $9.3 billion.
They gained worldwide recognition for their works that include The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise and the mega-shared universe franchise the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having written the three Captain America films, ', ' and , which is currently the highest-grossing film of all time unadjusted for inflation. They also created ABC's Agent Carter TV series, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Life and career

Christopher Markus

Markus was born on January 2, 1970, in Buffalo, New York. He is the son of Budapest, Hungary-born physician Dr. Gabor Markus and registered nurse Rosemary Golebiewski Markus. He has two siblings, sisters Jennifer and Elizabeth. Markus earned a B.A. in creative writing from Rutgers University in 1991. His Father is Jewish but his Mother is Catholic.

Stephen McFeely

McFeely was born on November 12, 1969, in Contra Costa County, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He earned a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1991.

Encountering

They both met on the graduate program for creative writing at the University of California, Davis in 1994 and they were inspired to become novelists. The two "couldn't see how we could make writing our full-time day job," McFeely said in 2011, and they turned to screenwriting instead. After earning their master's degrees in 1996, they moved to Los Angeles to pursue that career, working at such jobs as receptionist at movie production companies. After acquiring an agent, they became professional screenwriters in 1998 with an eventually unproduced script about a real-life Los Angeles murder. Interest generated from the purchased script led HBO Films to commission them to write a biographical drama about actor Peter Sellers. For The Life and Death of Peter Sellers in 2004, they won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. Subsequent work on The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise set them up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As of at least April 2012, Markus is married to Claire Saunders.

Filmography

Film credits

YearTitleDirectorNotes
2004The Life and Death of Peter SellersStephen Hopkins
2005'Andrew Adamson
2007You Kill MeJohn Dahl
2008'Andrew Adamson
2010'Michael Apted
2011'Joe Johnston
2013Pain & GainMichael Bay
2013'Alan Taylor
2014'Anthony and Joe RussoAlso credited as "SHIELD Interrogators"
2014Guardians of the GalaxyJames GunnScript polish only
2016'Anthony and Joe Russo
2018'Anthony and Joe RussoAlso credited as "Secretary Ross' Aide"
2019Anthony and Joe RussoAlso co-producers

Television credits