John Ridley is an American screenwriter, film director, novelist, and showrunner, known for12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. After both writing and directing his film debut, the 1997 crime thrillerCold Around the Heart, Ridley went on to write the novelsLove Is a Racket andEverybody Smokes in Hell. His novelSpoils of War was adapted into the filmThree Kings. Ridley then became a writer and a supervising producer on the NBC crime dramaThird Watch. His other novels areThe Drift,Those Who Walk in Darkness, andA Conversation with the Mann.