Dustin Lee Abraham is an American actor, producer and
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
. He wrote the 2001 cult film ''
How High'' for
Method Man and
Redman. As of 2009, he produced and writes for ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''.
Biography
Abraham was born to a
Jewish family and attended
Chaparral High School in
Las Vegas, NV where he was friends with
Anthony Zuiker
Anthony E. Zuiker (pronounced ; born August 17, 1968) is an American television writer, television producer, and author. He is best known as the creator of ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''. He produced all four editions of the CSI (franchise ...
who encouraged him to enroll in Speech and Forensics (
Dramatic Interpretation
Dramatic Interpretation (often shortened to "Dramatic Interp," "Drama" or just "DI") is an event in National Speech and Debate Association (and NSDA-related) high school forensics competitions. In the National Christian Forensics and Communicatio ...
) coursework. He eventually won the state championship in Dramatic Interpretation which led to a scholarship at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
. Zuiker who wrote him some scripts that he used to win the national championship in Dramatic Interpretation and won a scholarship to attended
California State
The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...
's graduate school and also teach their Speech and Forensics team. A friend of his introduced him to ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'' star
Angie Harmon who then introduced him to
Russel Simmons
Russel Simmons is an American businessman. He co-founded Yelp, Inc. with Jeremy Stoppelman and served as CTO from July 2004 until he left in June 2010. Prior to co-founding Yelp, Simmons was a co-founder of PayPal, where he was a Lead Software A ...
and his agent
Stan Lathan
Stan Lathan (born July 8, 1945) is an American television and film director and television producer. He is executive producer and director of BET's ''Real Husbands of Hollywood''. He has produced and directed numerous stand-up comedy specials st ...
who liked his monologues. Jenny Delaney from the
William Morris Agency then started to market him to various casting directors including Francine Maisler at
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
who signed him; his first check was for $30,000. Although he was auditioning and getting paid, he did not win any roles. His agent encouraged him to write. He called Zuiker, who at the time was operating a tram in Las Vegas, and they decided to write a script about the Jewish mob in Las Vegas (Abraham had run numbers for the Jewish mob while in high school); the final product was called ''The Runner.'' After initially failing with the
William Morris Agency, they sold the script to a Showtime director for a mere $25,000; unfortunately, before the
Creative Artists Agency had reviewed it. CAA had found a lucrative buyer but the director refused to sell and instead what he felt was a lackluster movie, ''
The Runner'', was produced in 1999 (although it starred
John Goodman,
Courteney Cox, and
Ron Eldard).
[Mass Appeal: "How a Speech & Forensics Coach Wrote the Script for ‘How High’ - Featuring Jewish mobsters, Russell Simmons, a softcore porn director and Sticky Fingers stealing weed" by Eric Ducker]
May 18, 2017
Abraham wrote his first script, which he calls boilerplate, for
John Wells which got him some exposure. Abraham then received a call from his agent that
Method Man and
Redman wanted him to write ''
How High'' which was released in 2001. Abraham then worked on the ''
CSI'' franchise as a writer for nine years.
In 2007, he ventured into production and produced his first episode of ''
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', "
Cockroaches", directed by
William Friedkin.
CSI Files: "Interview: Dustin Lee Abraham" by Rachel Trongo
July 1, 2011
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham, Dustin Lee
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
21st-century American Jews
American male screenwriters
American male television writers
American television producers
American television writers
Jewish American screenwriters
Jewish American television producers