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Terry Rossio (born July 2, 1960) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He co-wrote the films Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, Shrek, and all five of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. For Shrek, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production and BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He often collaborates with fellow screenwriter Ted Elliott.
Life and career
Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio, television and film. He is the founder of Wordplay, also known as Wordplayer.com, one of the premier screenwriting sites on the Internet.
Along with his writing partner Ted Elliott, Rossio has written some of the most successful American films of the past 30 years, including Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Shrek.[1] He is the eleventh-most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of domestic box office receipts with totals at around $5.5 billion.[2] In May 1993, Rossio and Elliott were hired by TriStar Pictures to write a screenplay for Godzilla, which featured Godzilla battling a shape-shifting alien in New York. Their script was dropped by Roland Emmerich in favor of a new script of his own co–written with Dean Devlin. However, Rossio and Elliott retained a "Story By" credit.[3]
In 2015, Dodie Gold Management filed a Commissions Non-Payment Lawsuit against Rossio and sought a jury trial for "damages of more than $25,000 plus a court declaration that they are entitled to the 10% commissions and a full look at the records and accounting of Rossio and his Chamaeleon Productions."[4] In March 2017, Legendary Entertainment announced that Rossio would lead their writers room to help develop the story for Godzilla vs. Kong.[5] He received "story by" credit on the film.[6] In June 2019, Rossio was announced as the screenwriter for The Amazing Maurice.[7]
In 2021, Rossio and Bill Marsilii sold their spec script Time Zone to Amazon Studios. The film will be a joint venture between Amazon Studios and Davis Entertainment.[8]
In February 2023 Ashly Bell and Dr. Bernice A King (daughter of Martin Luther King) announced their intent to executive produce Cash Money, written by Terry Rossio and Kevin Arbouet, concurrent with the launch of ReadLife Entertainment, which plans to create television and film projects centered around strong social messaging. Arbouet is going to direct Cash Money.[9]
Controversy
On November 23, 2018, Rossio expressed his condolences to parents of "vaccine damaged children", however, he likened the term "anti-vax" to a slur equivalent to "nigger." Following immediate outcry, he apologized the day after for using the slur and for proclaiming that both epithets were analogous.[10]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Credit | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Little Monsters | Written by | Co-wrote with Ted Elliott | |
| 1992 | Aladdin | Screenplay by | Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott & Ron Clements and John Musker | |
| 1994 | The Puppet Masters | Screenplay by | Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott and David S. Goyer | |
| 1998 | The Mask of Zorro | Screenplay by Story by |
Co-wrote screenplay with John Eskow and Ted Elliott Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott and Randall Jahnson |
|
| Godzilla | Story by | Early unproduced screenplay; Co-wrote with Ted Elliott | [3] | |
| Small Soldiers | Written by | Co-wrote with Ted Elliott & Gavin Scott and Adam Rifkin | ||
| 2000 | The Road to El Dorado | Written by | Co-wrote with Ted Elliott | |
| 2001 | Shrek | Written by Co-producer |
Co-wrote with Ted Elliott & Joe Stillman and Roger S. H. Schulman | |
| 2002 | Treasure Planet | Story by | Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Ron Clements and John Musker | |
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl |
Screenplay by Story by |
Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert |
|
| 2005 | The Legend of Zorro | Story by | Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman | |
| 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest |
Written by | Co-wrote with Ted Elliott | |
| Déjà Vu | Written by Executive producer |
Co-wrote with Bill Marsilii | ||
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End |
Written by | Co-wrote with Ted Elliott | |
| National Treasure: Book of Secrets |
Story by | Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Gregory Poirier & Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley | ||
| 2009 | G-Force | Associate producer | Uncredited rewrite | |
| 2011 | Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides |
Screenplay by Executive producer |
Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code – Wedlocked |
Written by | Short film; Co-wrote with Ted Elliott | ||
| 2013 | Lovestruck: The Musical | Written by Executive producer |
TV film; Co-wrote with Jaylynn Bailey | |
| The Lone Ranger | Screenplay by Executive producer |
Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott and Justin Haythe | ||
| 2017 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales |
Story by Executive producer |
Early unproduced screenplay; co-wrote story with Jeff Nathanson | |
| 2019 | Aladdin | Based on | Credited with Ron Clements & John Musker and Ted Elliott | |
| 2021 | Godzilla vs. Kong | Story by | Head of writers room; co-wrote story with Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields | [11][5] |
| 2022 | The Amazing Maurice | Screenplay by | [7] | |
| 2024 | Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire | Screenplay by Story by |
Co-wrote script with Jeremy Slater and Simon Barrett Co-wrote story with Barrett and Adam Wingard |
[12] |
Other credits
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Men in Black | Additional literary material (uncredited) |
| 1998 | Antz | Consultant/advisor |
| 2003 | Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas | |
| 2004 | Shrek 2 | Creative consultant |
| King Arthur | Additional literary material (uncredited) | |
| National Treasure | Additional literary material (uncredited) | |
| 2008 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Additional literary material (uncredited) |
| 2015 | Jake and the Never Land Pirates | Episode #89 – Captain Frost Co-wrote storyboards with Ted Elliott |
| 2016 | Star Trek Beyond | Additional literary material (uncredited) |
| 2021 | Arcane | Writing consultant |