Screenwriters I know about.
by reynaldo_n | created - 21 Aug 2014 | updated - 13 Nov 2016 | PublicA list of every screenwriter I know by name because of watching movies. I don´t know them in person nor I´ve read their work so far. No order & no differences between the ones I like or dislike because of the movies they´ve worked on.
1. Sean Hood
Writer | Conan the Barbarian
Sean was a professional screenwriter from 1998-2018. He is known for both horror films and swords-and-sandals movies.
After graduating from Brown University with a double major in pure mathematics and studio art, Sean spent several years working in Hollywood as a set dresser, prop assistant and art ...
2. Dean Devlin
Producer | Independence Day
Dean Devlin has produced and co-written some of the most successful feature films of all time -- Independence Day, Stargate, and Godzilla -- which collectively grossed more than 1.4 billion dollars worldwide. In May of 2001, he founded Electric Entertainment, where he serves as chairman and CEO. ...
3. Roland Emmerich
Writer | Independence Day
Roland Emmerich is a German film director and producer of blockbuster films like The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Godzilla (1998), Independence Day (1996) and The Patriot (2000). Before fame, he originally wanted to be a production designer, but decided to be a director, after watching the original ...
4. Alex Kurtzman
Producer | Sleepy Hollow
Alex Kurtzman is an American filmmaker and screenwriter. He directed People Like Us and the panned 2017 reboot The Mummy starring Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella. He wrote Transformers 1 and 2, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Star Trek, The Island and Cowboys & Aliens. He also created the TV show Fringe.
5. Roberto Orci
Producer | Star Trek
Roberto Orci was born on July 20, 1973 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He is a producer and writer, known for Star Trek (2009), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Fringe (2008). He has been married to Adele Heather Taylor since June 6, 2020. He was previously married to ...
6. J.J. Abrams
Producer | Lost
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990)....
7. Damon Lindelof
Producer | Lost
Damon Lindelof was born on April 24, 1973 in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Lost (2004), The Leftovers (2014) and Watchmen (2019). He has been married to Heidi Fugeman since May 28, 2005. They have one child.
8. John Brancato
Writer | The Game
John Brancato was born on November 8, 1958 in the USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Game (1997), The Net (1995) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). He has been married to Jennifer Long since March 21, 1987.
9. Michael Ferris
Writer | The Game
Michael Ferris was born on January 29, 1961 in the USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Game (1997), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and The Net (1995).
10. Terry Rossio
Writer | Aladdin
Terry Rossio was born on July 2, 1960 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He is a writer, known for Godzilla VS. Kong (2021), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Aladdin (1992), and Shrek (2001). Additional credits for Rossio include Deja Vu, G-Force, Lovestruck, The Long Ranger...
11. Ted Elliott
Writer | Shrek
Ted Elliott was born on July 4, 1961 in Santa Ana, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Shrek (2001), The Lone Ranger (2013) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).
12. Carl Ellsworth
Writer | Unhinged
Carl Ellsworth is known for Unhinged (2020), The Last House on the Left (2009) and Disturbia (2007).
13. Chris Morgan
Producer | Fast & Furious 7
Chris Morgan is known for Furious 7 (2015), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) and Furious 6 (2013).
14. Matt Lopez
Writer | Race to Witch Mountain
Matt Lopez is known for Race to Witch Mountain (2009), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) and Bedtime Stories (2008).
15. Zak Penn
Writer | Ready Player One
Zak Penn's career began as a screenwriter when he sold his first script, Last Action Hero, at the age of twenty-three. Since then, Penn has become known for his work on numerous films based on Marvel comics, including X-Men 2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers. He has ...
16. Steven Zaillian
Writer | Searching for Bobby Fischer
Steven Zaillian was born on January 30, 1953 in Fresno, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), The Irishman (2019) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). He is married to Elizabeth Zaillian. They have two children.
17. Randall Wallace
Writer | We Were Soldiers
Randall Wallace was born on July 28, 1949 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for We Were Soldiers (2002), Pearl Harbor (2001) and Braveheart (1995).
18. Alex Garland
Writer | Ex Machina
Alex Garland is an English novelist, screenwriter, film producer and director. He is best known for the films Ex Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018).
Garland's others works as a writer includes The Beach (2000), 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), Never Let Me Go (2011) and Dredd (2012).
He is ...
19. Jim Uhls
Writer | Fight Club
Jim Uhls was born on March 25, 1957 in Missouri, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Fight Club (1999), Jumper (2008) and The Leviathan. He is married to Yalda Tehranian. They have two children.
20. Darren Aronofsky
Writer | Pi
Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won ...
21. Christopher Nolan
Writer | Tenet
Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...
22. Jonathan Nolan
Writer | Westworld
Attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, graduating in 1994.
Graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1999. Majored in English.
Shortly after graduating from Georgetown University, Jonathan Nolan served as a production assistant on Memento (2000).
Wrote the short story, "...
23. David S. Goyer
Writer | Dark City
David S. Goyer was born on December 22, 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Dark City (1998), The Dark Knight (2008) and Flashforward (2009). He is married to Marina Black. They have two children. He was previously married to Jessika Borsiczky.
24. Kurt Wimmer
Writer | Equilibrium
Kurt Wimmer was born on March 9, 1964. He is a writer and producer, known for Equilibrium (2002), Total Recall (2012) and Point Break (2015).
25. Christopher McQuarrie
Writer | The Usual Suspects
Christopher McQuarrie is an acclaimed producer, director and an Academy Award® winning writer. McQuarrie grew up in Princeton Junction, New Jersey and in lieu of college, he spent the first five years out of school traveling and working at a detective agency. He later moved to Los Angeles to pursue...
26. Mark Bomback
Producer | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Mark Bomback was born on August 29, 1971 in New Rochelle, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) and Godsend (2004).
27. Luc Besson
Writer | Le Cinquième Élément
Luc Besson spent the first years of his life following his parents, scuba diving instructors, around the world. His early life was entirely aquatic. He already showed amazing creativity as a youth, writing early drafts of The Big Blue (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997), as an adolescent bored in ...
28. Alexander Payne
Director | Nebraska
Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest...
29. Joel Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...
30. Ethan Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel...
31. Etan Cohen
Writer | Holmes & Watson
Etan Cohen was born on March 14, 1974 in Israel. He is a writer and producer, known for Holmes & Watson (2018), Idiocracy (2006) and Men in Black³ (2012). He has been married to Emily Bowen-Cohen since June 14, 1998. They have three children.
32. Wes Anderson
Director | Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers, Eric and Mel. Anderson's parents divorced when he was a young child, an ...
33. Roman Polanski
Director | Chinatown
Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.
His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years ...
34. Cormac McCarthy
Writer | The Road
Cormac McCarthy was born on July 20, 1933 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Road (2009), No Country for Old Men (2007) and The Counselor (2013). He was married to Jennifer Claire Winkley, Anne DeLisle and Lee Holleman. He died on June 13, 2023 in Santa Fe...
35. Charlie Kaufman
Writer | I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Avid reader Charlie Kaufman wrote plays and made short films as a young student. He moved from Massapequa, New York to West Hartford, Connecticut in 1972 where he attended high school. As a comedic actor, he performed in school plays and, after graduation, he enrolled at Boston University but soon ...
36. Shane Black
Actor | Predator
Considered one of the pioneer screenwriters of the action genre, Black made his mark with his Lethal Weapon (1987) screenplay. He also collaborated on the story of the sequel, Lethal Weapon 2 (1989). Each successive script he turned in had a higher price attached it, from The Last Boy Scout (1991) ...
37. Ehren Kruger
Writer | The Ring
Ehren Kruger is an American film producer and screenwriter who is known for writing The Ring starring Naomi Watts and Daveigh Chase. He also wrote a majority of the Transformers sequels, Scream 3 & 4, Reindeer Games, The Ring Two, Blood & Chocolate, Dumbo, The Skeleton Key, The Brothers Grimm and ...
38. John Carpenter
Writer | The Fog
John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...
39. Debra Hill
Writer | Escape from L.A.
Debra Hill was born on November 10, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a writer and producer, known for Escape from L.A. (1996), Halloween (1978) and Escape from New York (1981). She died on March 7, 2005 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
40. Wes Craven
Writer | A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven has become synonymous with genre bending and innovative horror, challenging audiences with his bold vision.
Wesley Earl Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Caroline (Miller) and Paul Eugene Craven. He had a midwestern suburban upbringing. His first feature film was The Last House on ...
41. Quentin Tarantino
Writer | Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of...
42. Andrew Niccol
Writer | GATTACA
New Zealand-born screenwriter-director Andrew Niccol began his career in London, successfully directing TV commercials before moving to Los Angeles in order to make films "longer than 60 seconds." He interested high-powered producer Scott Rudin in his The Truman Show (1998) script, but Rudin was not...
43. Jonathan Hensleigh
Writer | Armageddon
One of the most prolific screenwriters in the action/adventure genre, Jonathan started his career writing episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) for George Lucas and ABC. He wrote Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), re-conceived from his original spec script "Simon Says". He followed ...
44. Graham Yost
Producer | Justified
Graham Yost was born on September 5, 1959 in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. He is a producer and writer, known for Justified (2010), From the Earth to the Moon (1998) and Speed (1994).
45. Akiva Goldsman
Writer | A Beautiful Mind
Akiva Goldsman was born on July 7, 1962 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for A Beautiful Mind (2001), Batman & Robin (1997) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022).
46. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
47. Oliver Stone
Director | JFK
Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.
William Oliver Stone was ...
48. Paul Schrader
Writer | First Reformed
Although his name is often linked to that of the "movie brat" generation (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Brian De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different than theirs. His strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a...
49. Chris Sparling
Writer | Buried
Chris Sparling was born on March 21, 1977 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Buried (2010), The Sea of Trees (2015) and The Atticus Institute (2015).
50. Rodrigo Cortés
Director | Buried
Rodrigo Cortés was born in 1973 in Pazos Hermos, Ourense, Galicia, Spain. He is a director and editor, known for Buried (2010), Love Gets a Room (2021) and Red Lights (2012).
51. Álex de la Iglesia
Director | El bar
Álex de la Iglesia is one of the most popular and respected European filmmakers of his generation. Considered a genre of his own, based on his skill and originality in a range of cinematographic art styles, he has currently finished shooting the second season of "30 Coins", the successful HBO Max ...
52. Travis Beacham
Writer | Pacific Rim
Travis Beacham is known for Pacific Rim (2013), Impact Winter (2022) and Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018).
53. Guillermo del Toro
Writer | El laberinto del fauno
Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his ...
54. James Vanderbilt
Producer | Zodiac
James Vanderbilt was born in 1975 in the USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Zodiac (2007), Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) and Scream (2022). He has been married to Amber Freeman since May 7, 2005.
55. Sam Raimi
Director | Spider-Man
Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making ...
56. Clive Barker
Writer | Nightbreed
Born in Liverpool, England, UK, Clive Barker is an English writer, director, and visual artist, best known for his works in the genres of horror and dark fantasy. His mother Joan Ruby (née Revill) was a painter and school welfare officer and his father Leonard Barker was a personnel director for an...
57. Eric Roth
Writer | Dune
Mr. Roth won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump & has been nominated for his screenplays of The Insider, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, A Star is Born, & Dune. He wrote Mr. Kurosawa's Rhapsody in August, The Horse Whisperer, Ali, & Best Picture Nominee, Extremely ...
58. Alexandre Aja
Director | Haute tension
Alexandre Aja was born on August 7, 1978 in Paris, France. He is a producer and director, known for High Tension (2003), The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Piranha 3D (2010). He is married to Laïla Marrakchi.
59. Patrick Melton
Writer | Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Patrick Melton was born on June 18, 1975 in Champaign, Illinois, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025) and Saw 3D (2010).
60. Marcus Dunstan
Writer | The Collector
Marcus Dunstan was born on April 14, 1975 in Macomb, Illinois, USA. He is a writer and director, known for The Collector (2009), Feast (2005) and The Collection (2012).
61. Simon Kinberg
Producer | The Martian
Simon Kinberg is a British film producer, director and screenwriter who is known for producing the X-Men films, Fant4stic, Logan, the Deadpool films, Cinderella and The Martian. He directed Dark Phoenix, the finale of the X-Men Beginnings films. He created Star Wars Rebels, an animated series set ...
62. Robert Zemeckis
Writer | Back to the Future
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect ...
63. David Lynch
Writer | Twin Peaks
Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future ...
64. Leigh Whannell
Actor | Saw
Leigh Whannell grew up in Melbourne, Australia, where, at the age of four, he developed an obsession with telling stories. Whether it be through acting, writing or filmmaking, his primary love was getting a reaction from an audience. In 1995, at the age of 18, he was accepted into the Royal ...
65. Drew Goddard
Producer | The Martian
Drew Goddard was raised in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He attended Los Alamos High School in Los Alamos, New Mexico and graduated in 1993. He then attended the University of Colorado, and worked as a production assistant in L.A. after graduation. A spec script Drew wrote based on Six Feet Under (2001) ...
66. Joss Whedon
Producer | Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Joss Whedon is the middle of five brothers - his younger brothers are Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon. Both his father, Tom Whedon and his grandfather, John Whedon were successful television writers. Joss' mother, Lee Stearns, was a history teacher and she also wrote novels as Lee Whedon. Whedon was ...
67. Richard Kelly
Writer | Donnie Darko
James Richard Kelly better known as Richard Kelly, is an American film director and writer, known for writing and directing the cult classic Donnie Darko in 2001. Kelly was born James Richard Kelly in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Lane and Ennis Kelly. He grew up in Midlothian, Virginia, where...
68. James DeMonaco
Writer | The Purge: Anarchy
James DeMonaco was born in 1969 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Purge: Anarchy (2014), The Purge: Election Year (2016) and The First Purge (2018).
69. David O. Russell
Director | American Hustle
David Owen Russell is an American film writer, director, and producer, known for a cinema of intense, tragi-comedic characters whose love of life can surpass dark circumstances faced in very specific worlds. His films address such themes as mental illness as stigma or hope; invention of self and ...
70. Judd Apatow
Producer | Girls
Judd Apatow is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He directed The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This is 40, Funny People, Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island. He also developed the television shows Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Girls, Love and Crashing. He is ...
71. Seth Rogen
Producer | This Is the End
An actor, comedian and writer, Seth Rogen has come a long way from doing stand-up comedy as a teen.
Rogen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Sandy (Belogus), a social worker, and Mark Rogen, who worked for non-profits. His father is American-born and his mother is Canadian. He is of Russian...
72. Evan Goldberg
Producer | This Is the End
Evan Goldberg is a Canadian director, screenwriter and producer. Goldberg is known for his work on Superbad, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Funny People, The Green Hornet, 50/50, Goon, The Watch, This is the End, Neighbors, The Interview and The Night Before. Goldberg works alongside longtime ...
73. Lilly Wachowski
Writer | The Matrix
Director, writer, and producer Lilly Wachowski was born in 1967 in Chicago, the daughter of Lynne, a nurse and painter, and Ron, a businessman. Lilly was educated at Kellogg Elementary School in Chicago, before moving on to Whitney M. Young High School. After graduating from high school, she ...
74. Lana Wachowski
Writer | The Matrix
Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight ...
75. Aaron Sorkin
Writer | The West Wing
Aaron Sorkin grew up in Scarsdale, a suburb of New York City where he was very involved in his high school drama and theater club. After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater, Sorkin intended to pursue a career in acting. It took him only a short time to ...
76. Diablo Cody
Writer | Juno
Diablo Cody is originally from Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Minnesota to live with her Internet boyfriend, Jonny who later became her husband. While there, she decided on a whim to take up stripping as a hobby of sorts.
She was working at an ad agency and got a promotion. The job wore her ragged ...
77. Tina Fey
Actress | Date Night
Elizabeth Stamatina Fey was born in 1970 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia, to Xenobia "Jeanne" (Xenakes), a brokerage employee, and Donald Henry Fey, who wrote grant proposals for universities. Her mother is Greek, born in Piraeus, while her father had German, Northern Irish,...
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