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From SCIFIPEDIA
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Alex Kurtzman (b. September 7, 1973, Los Angeles, California) is an American screenwriter and producer. In 2007, it was announced that Kurtzman and writing partner, Roberto Orci would pen Star Trek XI, to be directed by J. J. Abrams. Kurtzman and Orici met in high school and began writing screenplays together and making home movies. They made their team a professional one after attending different colleges, Kurtzman at NYU and Wesleyan and Orici at the University of Texas.
Kurtzman's first professional work after college was as a production assistant on the set of the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. During this time, he teamed with Orici penning a sample script and they landed their first writing job, and became head writers on Hercules. Kurtzman followed up with Jack of All Trades starring Bruce Campbell and the spyfi series Alias on which they first worked with J. J. Abrams. After Alias came The Legend of Zorro starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Antonio Banderas which established their credibility as hit filmmakers. Next came The Island with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, and Mission: Impossible III which saw them working with Abrams again.
Shortly before the release of MI III, on April 21, 2006, the announcement came that Abrams, Kurtzman, and Orici would work together on the latest Star Trek film. The choice of Kurtzman and Orici no doubt stemmed from their good reputation for collaboration, speed, and great writing which also earned them a writing/producing/directing deal at DreamWorks SKG.
Kurtzman and Orici turned out the hit film Transformers in 2007 and will also pen the sequel Transformers 2 scheduled for a 2009 release. Also on their schedule is Scifi TV drama, Fringe and 2012: The War for Souls adapted from Whitley Streiber's novel on which they will work with Transformers director Michael Bay again. Alsom in 2009, Kurtzman and Orici will produce Amazon.
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