10 Screenwriters to Watch

[Sylph]

Scribes list celebrates tenth edition

Variety marks occassion with alumni update

This year marks our tenth* 10 Screenwriters to Watch list.

Our first list in 1998 included scribes such as Ehren Kruger -- who went on to have a horror hit with 2002's "The Ring" -- while, last year, duo Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen were among the honorees. Their "Superbad" became the little comedy sleeper of the summer.

But hitmakers -- especially among scribes, who often have little influence over the final outcome of their projects -- can't always be predicted with precision. That said, here are a few updates on just five of our list alums:

Etan Cohen (class of 2006) has war-zone comedy "Tropic Thunder," co-written by helmer-star Ben Stiller and thesp Justin Theroux, coming out via DreamWorks this summer.

Steven Knight's (2002) scripts for "Eastern Promises" and "Amazing Grace" were released last year, and he's now at work on the third "Narnia" film, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader," for Disney/Walden.

Bill Monahan (2003) won an Oscar in 2007 for "The Departed." He recently inked a first-look deal with that pic's producer, Graham King. Just wrapped is Ridley Scott's "Body of Lies," with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Among his upcoming projects is another with DiCaprio, Hong Kong pic adaptation "Nothing in the World," as well as thriller "Edge of Darkness," with King and starring Mel Gibson.

Lorene Scafaria (2005) has "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" coming out this fall via Sony. Helmed by Pete Sollett and toplining Michael Cera, pic is tipped to unspool at the Toronto fest.

Thesp-turned-scribe Danny Strong (2007) saw his debut script "Recount" bow to critical acclaim on HBO this summer. He's next writing a project for Gary Ross to direct at Universal.

*the screenwriters list wasn't published in 2004

[Sylph]

This year's list:

1. Paul Webb

2. Joe Penhall

3. J. Michael Straczynski

4. Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

5. Dan Mazeau

6. Michael Martin

7. Drew Goddard

8. Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

9. Shauna Cross

10. Ann Cherkis

[brimike]

LOVE seeing Drew on that list.

[Toups]

Same here! Go Drew!

[Sylph]

And J. Michael Straczynski?

[brimike]

No argument here.

To be honest, I wasn't a huge B5 fan (althought I can't get ENOUGH of Farscape, the show that bizarrely B5 is always compared to, which makes no sense, because they're entirely different themes, albeit both sci-fi)

But I am highly interested in The CHangeling. So I've got NOTHING against him as a writer.

So yeah... I'm glad to see him too. I just have a silly crush on the Goddard for TOTALLY fangurl reasons. I admit it. So sue me... :-)

[Sylph]

It's amazing how many great writers Buffy launched (P. S. Are you a fan of Fury?). And even more amazing is how many did Charmed!

Abrams was very clever to bring them all to work for him on Alias.

As for Goddard, yes, I like him, and I especially liked him during the Buffy years, but since then he hasn't really lived up to the hype.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Nice to see Joe Penhall there. BBC4's adaptation of Blue/Orange was brilliant, I really want to see what he has in store for the future.

[brimike]

I do like Fury! "You're Welcome" is one of my favorite Season Five episodes ever.

And I agree there were some people who ended up not panning out as well as they should have. Don't even get me started on Orci and Kurtzman from Alias...

[Sylph]

Do I see agreement between the two of us?

Oh, those two just simply suck... But somehow I expect to see Fringe. The premise is not all that interesting to me, I just want to see how they decided to do it.

[brimike]

It happens. Surprisingly more so lately. Must be all the MonaVie I'm drinking.

Fringe will be fine. They'll play all the right cards, pull all the right strings, get the majority of the X-Files/Lost fans on board, and then just string everyone along with lots of unanswered questions, and a scruffy Josh Jackson.

And I'll be dumb enough to watch because I have yet to learn my lesson with mythology shows.