Nicholas Sparks: Nicholas Sparks Productions

Formed at Notre Dame, class of 1988 — producer from 2013

The novelist who became his own producer: Nicholas Sparks was born in Omaha and raised in Sacramento; the South Bend tie is a formation, and it is a documented one — he came to the University of Notre Dame on a track scholarship, graduated in 1988, and wrote his first two novels while a student there. The novels and their eleven film adaptations are the Authors and Famous People chapters' ground. The producing begins a quarter-century after the formation, and its shape is the modern author's: in 2012 he founded his own company, Nicholas Sparks Productions, first with an eye to developing television series for cable. On the four adaptations that followed he took the producer's credit himself — Safe Haven (2013), The Best of Me (2014), The Longest Ride (2015), and The Choice (2016). The seven earlier adaptations, The Notebook at their head, carry no producing credit for him: he was their author, not their producer, and this record keeps the two roles separate because the credit record does.

The company's one original production was for television: Deliverance Creek, a Civil War–era television film written by Melissa R. Byer and aired by Lifetime on 13 September 2014, with Sparks as executive producer — his television debut in the credit, and, notably, not an adaptation of his own work. Development has continued on the trade record since: a first-look deal with Universal Pictures announced in May 2021, with Sparks to serve as producer on the adaptations in development under it. The producing career is a second act built entirely on the first, and it is printed at that size.

Sources:

1. Biographical and credit record of Nicholas Sparks — born 31 December 1965, Omaha; Notre Dame class of 1988; his first novels written while a student at Notre Dame; founded Nicholas Sparks Productions in 2012 to develop television series; "eleven of his novels have been adapted as films, four of which he produced, including The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, and Safe Haven."
2. Credit listings (TV Insider) — producer: Safe Haven (2013), The Best of Me (2014), The Longest Ride (2015), The Choice (2016); executive producer: Deliverance Creek (2014).
3. Channel Guide Magazine, 13 September 2014 — Deliverance Creek "his television debut as executive producer," a production of Nicholas Sparks Productions, not based on a Sparks work.
4. Trade record, April–May 2021 — the Universal first-look deal; Sparks to serve as producer on the adaptations in development.