--- name: "Mark L. Smith" canonical: "https://film.one/person/mark-l-smith" fi1m_id: "mark-l-smith" imdb_id: "nm1872664" tmdb_id: 64785 wikidata_id: "Q6768454" roles: ["Writer","Producer"] reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 62 average_as: "writer" average_over: 5 updated: "2026-10-22T04:27:07.467787+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Mark L. Smith ## Identity Mark L. Smith - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/mark-l-smith - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** mark-l-smith - **IMDb ID:** nm1872664 - **TMDB ID:** 64785 - **Wikidata ID:** Q6768454 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_L._Smith, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6768454, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1872664/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/64785 Writer and producer. Born in New York City, New York, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Producer - **Active:** 2015–present - **Also known as:** מארק ל' סמית', Марк Л. Смит, Марк Л. Сміт - **Frequently works with:** [Cliff Roberts](https://film.one/person/cliff-roberts.md), [Peter Berg](https://film.one/person/peter-berg.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 62, as writer, over 5 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 74 (1), 2020s 60 (4) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 62 to 62 across 5 titles - **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 3 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 3, Thriller 2, Western 2, Action 1, Action & Adventure 1, Adventure 1 - **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $943m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_L._Smith, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6768454, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1872664/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/64785 ## Coming up - *The Mosquito Bowl* (2026-10-30), Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-mosquito-bowl.md) ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*UNTAMED*](https://film.one/tv/untamed.md) (58), [*American Primeval*](https://film.one/tv/american-primeval.md) (58) - **HBO Max:** [*The Revenant*](https://film.one/film/the-revenant.md) (74) - **Disney+:** [*Twisters*](https://film.one/film/twisters.md) (64) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Mark L. Smith > Mark L. Smith keeps returning to people struggling to survive, but his characters can be less convincing than their predicaments. We value his interest in grief and companionship, though the scripts too often give people troubles instead of personalities. In Lee Isaac Chung's *Twisters* (2024), the chase stops so Kate can stand in a doorway and be sad. Mark L. Smith's screenplay keeps giving grief precedence over the tornadoes, even when the pause adds little to our understanding of her. We grew impatient with those interruptions because Daisy Edgar-Jones's restraint could not make repeated sadness feel like new information. Smith takes her suffering seriously, but gives her too little else to do. His early films were horror: he wrote and directed *Séance* (2006), then wrote *Vacancy* (2007) and *The Hole* (2009). Wider opportunities came with *The Revenant* (2015), co-written with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. His emphasis there on visual action and sparse dialogue helps explain the move towards stories of survival in harsh environments. The later work stretches from George Clooney's *The Boys in the Boat* (2023) to disaster films and television mysteries. With *UNTAMED* (2025), co-created with Elle Smith, the difficulty spreads across six episodes. Eric Bana and Lily Santiago make an engaging investigative pair, and the murder investigation takes them through Yosemite National Park. Yet the writers keep the case moving with familiar complications and forced turns. We can enjoy their company for a stretch without finding enough reason to follow the mystery to its end. Ridley Scott's *The Dog Stars* (2026), which Smith adapted from Peter Heller's novel, offers a more appealing possibility: survival through companionship. Its interest in kindness is welcome, and the contrast between Jacob Elordi's subdued Hig and Josh Brolin's more forceful Bangley gives their scenes some life. The screenplay, however, supplies too little individual character to sustain the quieter stretches, while convenient plotting makes people behave as the next scene requires. More violence would do nothing to fix that; the relationships need work. If disaster films are your pleasure, start with *Twisters*, provided you can tolerate a script that keeps postponing the next storm. ## Biography Mark L. Smith is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. He wrote and directed the 2006 film *Séance*, which won awards at the Eureka Springs Digital Film Festival and ShockFest. He has since worked primarily as a screenwriter. His credits include the films *Vacancy* (2007), *The Hole* (2009), *The Revenant* (2015), *Overlord* (2018), *The Midnight Sky* (2020), *The Marsh King's Daughter* (2023), *The Boys in the Boat* (2023) and *Twisters* (2024). He co-created the 2025 Netflix series *Untamed* with Elle Smith and created the miniseries *American Primeval* (2025). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) - *The Dog Stars* (2026), Fi1m 58, Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-dog-stars.md) - *American Primeval* (2025), Fi1m 58, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/american-primeval.md) - *UNTAMED* (2025), Fi1m 58, Writer, Creator, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/untamed.md) - *Twisters* (2024), Fi1m 64, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/twisters.md) - *The Revenant* (2015), Fi1m 74, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/the-revenant.md) ## Complete filmography (17) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Mosquito Bowl* (2026), Screenplay — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/the-mosquito-bowl.md) - *The Dog Stars* (2026), Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/the-dog-stars.md) - *UNTAMED* (2025), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/tv/untamed.md) - *American Primeval* (2025), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/tv/american-primeval.md) - *Twisters* (2024), Screenplay — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/twisters.md) - *The Boys in the Boat* (2023), Screenplay - *The Marsh King's Daughter* (2023), Screenplay, Producer - *The Midnight Sky* (2020), Screenplay - *Overlord* (2018), Screenplay - *The Revenant* (2015), Screenplay — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-revenant.md) - *Martyrs* (2015), Screenplay - *The Hole* (2009), Writer - *Vacancy 2: The First Cut* (2008), Writer - *Vacancy* (2007), Screenplay - *Séance* (2006), Director, Writer - *Thunder Road*, series, Executive Producer - *Untitled Ernest Shackleton Film*, Writer, Producer --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/mark-l-smith