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Screenwriter/producer Laeta Kalogridis to be honored‏

Posted by Superheidi | Thu, June 03 2010

UCLA alumna Laeta Kalogridis MFA ’94 (screenwriter and producer of Shutter Island and Avatar) will be honored during the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) Festival of New Creative Work 2010. She will be presented with the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award during the Screenwriters Showcase on Monday, June 7 2010 at 7:30 p.m.

As one of Hollywood’s leading and in-demand screenwriters and producers, Kalogridis has penned the scripts of the sci-fi, fantasy and horror films Avatar, Scream 3, Tomb Raider, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Night Watch and Alexander. She has also served as executive producer on television series including Birds of Prey and Bionic Woman...

Born in Florida, Kalogridis attended Davidson College and University of Texas at Austin, prior to UCLA. She is currently working on an adaptation of Ghost in the Shell for DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg.

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Thu, 06/03/2010 - 17:05

Cash Bailey

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I'm an avid reader of scripts and Laeta Kalogridis is awesome, although often poorly-served by the movies made from her scripts.

It's an absolute disgrace that her excellent script for TOMB RAIDER was passed over for the garbage they eventually made. Although I believe her name is still on the movie.

Her concept for the remake of PATHFINDER was great, but the execution by the director totally sucked. A good director could have made a great movie of that idea.

And I heard that many years ago she wrote an amazing remake of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN that I'd love to read.

So yeah, as far as big-shot screenwriters go she's the goods.

Thu, 06/03/2010 - 17:16

Superheidi

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I'd love to interview her, esp about that Bride of Frankenstein script. What was her Tomb Raider like, Cash?

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Thu, 06/03/2010 - 17:53

Cash Bailey

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For the record, I hate those games. I think they're borderline-unplayable trash. But that's just me.

From what I remember her script was really strong. I think she brought the whole 'daddy issues' element into it to try and inject some much-needed depth to the character.

The thing is, according to Steven de Souza, the director Simon West came on with an idea that he wanted to invent a new genre called 'post-content cinema', where there is literally no content in the film.

Steven de Souza says it wasn't an accident that the movie was empty, boring and utterly lame, it was a choice made by the director.

As for her BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, I remember reading that it was with Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment, and it was a futuristic steampunk-style re-imagining of the tale.