Laeta Kalogridis

Laeta Kalogridis ( ) is an American screenwriter and television and film producer of Greek descent. She has written scripts for ''Alexander'' (2004), '' Night Watch'' (2004), ''Pathfinder'' (2007) and ''Shutter Island'' (2010). She also served as an executive producer for the television series ''Birds of Prey'' and '' Bionic Woman'', and she co-wrote the screenplay for ''Terminator Genisys'' (2015) and '' Alita: Battle Angel'' (2019). She is the creator and executive producer of the Netflix series ''Altered Carbon'' (2018).

She is also the founder of the pro-union website Hollywood United and was involved as a peacemaker in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

Early life and education

Laeta Kalogridis is of Greek descent; her grandparents emigrated from Kalymnos in the early 20th century. She graduated the MFA program for screenwriting at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Writing career

Early scripts and projects

Early in her career, Kalogridis wrote a spec script about Joan of Arc titled ''In Nomine Dei''. She sold the script to Warner Bros. in April 1994, but a film was not produced. In March 1995, she was a writer of the early script for ''X-Men'', a blockbuster film released in 2000. In late 1999, she did uncredited work on the script for ''Scream 3''.

In September 2000, she was hired to write the screenplay for the 2001 film adaptation of '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider''. Kalogridis created, executive produced and wrote multiple episodes of the 2002 series ''Birds of Prey''. In September 2003, she was involved in the rewrite of the ''Wonder Woman'' live action film adaptation for Warner Bros. Kalogridis wrote a draft of the 2004 film ''Catwoman'' but ultimately did not receive a screenwriting credit. She was next credited as the screenwriter of the English language version of the 2004 film '' Night Watch'', and also wrote the script for the 2004 film ''Alexander''.

In January 2005, she worked on a remake of ''The Lone Ranger'' for Columbia Pictures. In November 2005, she helped write ''Borgia'', an ImageMovers film about the Borgia family in 15th century Rome. In February 2006 she began writing ''The Dive'', director James Cameron's planned film about the freediver Francisco "Pipin" Ferraras and his wife Audrey Mestre.

Strike and recent projects

In January 2007, she began writing '' Alita: Battle Angel'', director James Cameron's planned film based on the classic cyberpunk manga ''Battle Angel Alita''. In October 2007, she did a rewrite of the vampire film ''Darksiders'' for New Line Cinema. She was screenwriter for the 2007 film ''Pathfinder''. She was also the executive producer for the 2007 TV series '' Bionic Woman'', also writing the pilot. For ''Bionic Woman'', she recalls being fired in part because she was told that she "didn't know how to write women," and was replaced by a male writer.

Kalogridis became involved as a peacemaker in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, working with writers and producers to reach a solution. ''The New York Times'' reported her involvement, "Ms. Kalogridis and her friends... had become a pipeline to the guild members holding out for sizable gains, whose support would be needed if any deal was to be reached." She is also the founder of the pro-union website Hollywood United.

She was an executive producer of the 2009 blockbuster ''Avatar'' by director James Cameron. She was executive producer and screenwriter of the 2010 film ''Shutter Island''. She produced the 2013 film ''White House Down''. In 2013, she and Patrick Lussier were both named co-writers for the fifth film in the ''Terminator'' series, ''Terminator Genisys'', for Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. She was also an executive producer of the 2015 film.

In 2018, she was producer for the film ''The House with a Clock in Its Walls''. She was also creator, screenwriter, and executive producer of ''Altered Carbon'', a Netflix scifi series which premiered in February 2018. She continues to work on the film adaptation of the manga '' Alita: Battle Angel'' as a co-writer along with James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez, which was released on February 14, 2019. Since 2016 she has also been writing and executive producing the untitled ''Sword Art Online'' live-action series for Netflix. She is writing the pilot, noting in an interview that she was working to not "whitewash" the adaptation.

On May 23, 2019, ''BuzzFeed Newss Kate Aurthur broke the news that Kalogridis is writing a script for an adaptation of the BioWare and LucasArts video game '' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''. BuzzFeed identifies the project as a "potential trilogy."

Filmography

Films

Producer
* ''White House Down'' (2013)

Special thanks
* ''Dracula 2000'' (2000)

Television

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalogridis, Laeta
1965 births
UCLA Film School alumni
University of Texas at Austin alumni
American people of Greek descent
American television writers
Davidson College alumni
Living people
American women television producers
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
People from Winter Haven, Florida
Screenwriters from Florida
American women film producers
Film producers from Florida
Showrunners
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century American women writers
Television producers from Florida