Alex Kurtzman


Alexander Hilary Kurtzman is an American film and television writer, producer, and director. He is best known for co-producing the Star Trek franchise since 2009, co-writing the scripts to Transformers, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with his writing and producing partner Roberto Orci, and directing and co-writing The Mummy.

Early life

Kurtzman was born and raised to a secular Jewish family in Los Angeles, California, where he met his high school best friend and longtime screenwriting partner Roberto Orci. He attended Wesleyan University.

Career

Kurtzman first teamed with Orci on the syndicated series , for the television unit of Pacific Renaissance Pictures, then operating out of Universal International. After they produced several storylines to cope with the absence of lead actor Kevin Sorbo following a stroke that Sorbo had suffered during the fourth season, Kurtzman and Orci, both aged 24, were placed in charge of the show. They moved into films after they were asked to rewrite Michael Bay's The Island. The film earned nearly $163 million at the worldwide box office, on a budget of $126 million, which was enough of a success that they were brought in to write Bay's Transformers, which earned $710 million. Though The Island, Transformers and ' were not particularly well received by critics, the three films earned a combined $1.7 billion. They co-created the Fox TV series Fringe in 2008 along with J. J. Abrams. After the pilot, Kurtzman served as consulting producer on the show for the remainder of its run. They then co-wrote the 2009 film Star Trek.
In 2011, Forbes magazine described Orci and Kurtzman as "Hollywood's Secret Weapons" as, over the course of the previous six years, their films had grossed a combined total of over $3 billion at the box office. The partnership also wrote People Like Us, originally known as Welcome to People, which was Kurtzman's theatrical directorial debut.
Kurtzman has frequently collaborated with a tight-knit group of film professionals which include J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Adam Horowitz, Roberto Orci, Edward Kitsis, Andre Nemec, Josh Appelbaum, Jeff Pinkner, and Bryan Burk. In April 2014, both Orci and Kurtzman confirmed to Variety that they would no longer work together on film projects; they added that they would still work together—but only on television projects.
In 2018, Kurtzman signed a new five-year deal with CBS Television Studios to oversee and expand the Star Trek franchise on television, including serving as Executive Producer on ', ' and '.

Personal life

In 2002, Kurtzman married Samantha Counter, the daughter of lawyer Nick Counter.

Filmography

Producer only
YearTitleNotes
2008Eagle Eye
2009The ProposalExecutive producer
2013Now You See Me
2013Ender's Game
2016Now You See Me 2

Television credits

Executive producer only