Rex Pickett

Rex Pickett’s Biography REX PICKETT is the author of "Sideways," the multiple award-winning Alexander Payne film of the same title. "Sideways" won over 350 critics and awards organization plaudits, including 2 Golden Globes, an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the prestigious Writers Guild Award, 6 Indie Spirit Awards ... and the list is endless. In addition to the critical accolades, "Sideways," including DVD and all ancillary revenue streams, grossed over half a billion dollars. And it inarguably transformed the world of wine forever. Rex has written and directed two independent feature films, the second of which was released by Island Pictures. He wrote the 2000 Academy Award-winning Best Live Action Short "My Mother Dreams the Satan’s Disciples in New York." His "Sideways" sequel Vertical won the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2012. A third book, completing the "Sideways" trilogy, "Sideways 3 Chile," has now been adapted into a screenplay with plans to go into production spring of 2018. In 2012, Rex wrote "Sideways" the play, adapted from his novel, and had four record-shattering stagings, the biggest at the La Jolla Playhouse with 3-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff directing. In addition, Rex just sold the publishing rights to "The Archivist", a murder mystery wound tightly around a passionate love affair set in the archival world, and based on a teleplay he recently wrote. The novel will be released in 2018 Rex’s love of wine began back in the ‘90s when he was unwittingly researching his legacy work "Sideways." That passion has never abated. In an effort to marry that passion with a project that went beyond the boundaries of fiction, Rex has created the show "Going Sideways," which he will host, and which will travel around the world in search of the greatest, most sublime, and unusual, wines. His quest will begin in Chile and take him in Season One to other wine-producing regions in South America. Season Two will explore the world of extreme Pinot Noir, criss-crossing the globe from Sonoma, CA to Burgundy to the Santa Ynez Valley where Sideways was filmed. Season Three ... Rex grew up in southern California, attended the University of California at San Diego, graduating with Highest Honors in Special Studies, with an emphasis on Contemporary Literary & Film Criticism and Creative Writing. A member of the Writers Guild of America for two decades, Rex has published poetry, written and directed two feature films, written numerous film and TV scripts, 4 novels, and successfully staged his Sideways the play. All his writings, films and correspondence are now enshrined in UCSD’S Geisel Library’s Special Collections and Archives.