Thomas Fenton is an American

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. ...

and his writing credits include the screenplays for ''

Saw IV ''Saw IV'' is a 2007 horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, and a story by Melton, Dunstan, and Thomas Fenton. It is the fourth installment in the ''Saw'' film series and sequel to 2 ...

''. Fenton grew up in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. His 5th grade had a movie-making class, where he's made some student sci-fi, horror and martial arts films. He attended

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

and took film classes there on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. Fenton started as a grip and

best boy In a film crew there are two kinds of best boy: best boy electric and best boy grip. They are assistants to their department heads, the gaffer (in charge of electricals) and the key grip (lighting and rigging), respectively. In short, the best ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Fenton opened and operated a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

doing commercial and music video production in New York. Fenton later moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

switching to

and also working as a

graphic novelist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

. Fenton's first break in Hollywood was doing a rewrite on ''Belly of the Beast'' by

Stephen Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal (; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, screenwriter and martial artist. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-l ...

. Fenton wrote ''Dominion'' a graphic novel about Earthbound Angel. Fenton worked with

Twisted Pictures Twisted Pictures is an American production company and a division of Evolution Entertainment that specializes in horror and thriller movies. The company was founded by Evolution's Mark Burg, Oren Koules, and Gregg Hoffman in 2004. The company i ...

on a number of films, best known as ''

''. Fenton wrote the script for the film on

Myrtles Plantation The Myrtles Plantation is a historic home and former antebellum plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana, United States built in 1796 by General David Bradford. House and grounds Architecture Sited on a hill, the eastward-facing frame house, ...

. Fenton then wrote scripts for some

CineTel Films CineTel Films Inc. is an independent film production company and distributor based in West Hollywood, California. History The company was founded in Chicago in 1980 as Chicago Teleproductions and later moved the company's headquarters to Los ...

, including ''I Spit On Your Grave 2''. Fenton spent years working with late producer

Robert Evans Robert Evans (born Robert J. Shapera; June 29, 1930October 26, 2019) was an American film producer, studio executive, and actor, best known for his work on '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968), '' Love Story'' (1970), ''The Godfather'' (1972), and ''Chi ...

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 ...

and does what many believe is one of the best impressions of Evans. In 2018, Fenton wrote The Scream Writer's Handbook that is considered one of the better books on screenwriting. While continuing to write and direct, Fenton founded Workingscreenwriter.com his online teaching portal.

Filmography

*''

Lady in White ''Lady in White'' is a 1988 American supernatural mystery film directed, produced, written and scored by Frank LaLoggia, and starring Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco and Katherine Helmond. The plot follows a schoolboy in 1962 upstate New ...

'' (1988) (Video Playback Operator) *''Cheap Shots'' (1989) (Grip) *'' Slaughter of the Innocents'' (1993) (Grip) *''

Night Trap ''Night Trap'' is a 1992 interactive movie developed by Digital Pictures and published by Sega for the Sega CD. Presented primarily through full-motion video (FMV), ''Night Trap'' tasks the player to observe teenage girls having a sleepover vi ...

'' (1993) (Cast/Key Grip) *''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technōs Japan and released as an arcade game in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various adversaries and rivals. The original ...

'' (1994) (Grip) *'' Striking Point'' (1995) (Director/Writer/Editor) *''Halloween 4: Final Cut'' (2001) (Additional Photographer) *''

Seraph A seraph (, "burning one"; plural seraphim ) is a type of celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Chr ...

'' (2002) (Writer) *''

Belly of the Beast ''Belly of the Beast'' is a 2003 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director Ching Siu-tung in his American directorial debut, and starring Steven Seagal, who also produced. The film co-stars Byron Mann, Monica Lo and Tom Wu. Seagal ...

'' (2004) (Draft) *''

Max Payne ''Max Payne'' is a neo-noir third-person shooter video game series developed by Remedy Entertainment (''Max Payne'' and ''Max Payne 2'') and Rockstar Studios (''Max Payne 3''). The series is named after its protagonist, Max Payne, a New York Ci ...

'' (2005) (Draft) *''

'' (2007) (Story) *''

'' (2007) (Writer) *'' Zombies Vs Robots'' (2007) (Treatment) *''Terminated'' (2009) (Writer) *''DeLorean'' (2010) (Writer) *''

Chain Letter A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinite ...

'' (2010) (Draft) *'' Dominion (graphic novel)'' (2011) (Writer) *''City At Midnight'' (2012) (Writer) *''

I Spit on Your Grave 2 ''I Spit on Your Grave 2'' is a 2013 American rape and revenge horror film directed by Steven R. Monroe. It is a sequel to the 2010 film ''I Spit on Your Grave'', also directed by Monroe, which in turn was based on Meir Zarchi's 1978 film of t ...

'' (2013) (Writer) *'' Slay Per View'' (2016) (Writer)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fenton, Thomas American male screenwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people)