Alex Epstein (screenwriter)

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Alex Epstein
Born (1963-01-26) January 26, 1963 (age 61)
New York City, New York
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican, Canadian
Alma materYale University
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Occupations
Notable workBon Cop, Bad Cop
We Happy Few
SpouseLisa Hunter Epstein
AwardsCanadian Comedy Award

Alex Epstein (born January 26, 1963) is a dual citizen American Canadian writer, film producer, director, and educator.

Career[edit]

Alex Epstein began his writing career as an author of short stories for literary magazines.[1] In Hollywood, he worked as a development executive for independent films, including with his own and Angelique Gulermovich Epstein's company Muse of Fire, and as a vice-president of Blue Rider Pictures.[1][2] His first film writing credit was for 1994's Warriors.

In Montreal, he co-created and co-wrote the comedy television series Naked Josh and co-wrote the buddy cop crime film Bon Cop, Bad Cop.[3] He was head writer (executive story editor) for the second half of the sci-fi series Charlie Jade with writer credit on three episodes.[4][5] He has also written and directed several short films,[6][7][8] and wrote young adult historical fantasy novel The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan le Fay.[9]

Epstein has worked in the video game industry as the story and voice director of Contrast by Compulsion Games.[10] For Spearhead Games' Stories: The Path of Destinies, he was brought in to assist with the branching storylines and to add humor.[11] He returned to work for Compulsion Games as the narrative director of We Happy Few.[12]

Selected writing credits[edit]

Awards[edit]

He was part of the writing team along with Patrick Huard, Leila Bason and Kevin Tierney that was nominated for the Prix Iris (Best Screenplay)[14] and won the Canadian Comedy Award (Best Writing) for Bon Cop, Bad Cop in 2007.[15] Naked Josh which he co-wrote with Laura Kosterski and the short film Role Play which he co-wrote with Lisa Hunter, have been nominated for the WGC Screenwriting Awards in 2005, 2006, and 2014.[16] The Circle Cast was shortlisted for the Quebec Writers' Federation Awards (QWF Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature) in 2011.[17]

Education[edit]

In addition, Epstein is also a screenwriting teacher. Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made, published in 2002, is a screenwriting manual for feature films, derived from his career in development. In 2006, he wrote Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box, focusing on his experiences in television and guiding writers in creating series and pilots. He also has a tie-in blog, "Complications Ensue".[18][19]

Personal life[edit]

Raised in New York, Epstein graduated from the Yale in 1985 in Computer Science and English and has lived in France for a year. Afterwards he graduated from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and has worked in Los Angeles for a decade, before eventually moving to Montreal, Canada.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Press, Skip (1998-10-28). Writer's Guide to Hollywood Producers, Directors, and Screenwriter's Agents, 1999-2000. Prima Pub. ISBN 9780761514848.
  2. ^ "Exec Shuffle". Variety. 1997-05-30. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  3. ^ "Breaking into Television: My Interview with Alex Epstein | WritersDigest.com". WritersDigest.com. 2008-12-28. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  4. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Charlie Jade Headwriter Alex Epstein". www.popcritics.com. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  5. ^ "About the Podcast : Charlie Jade Verse". www.charliejade.net. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  6. ^ "You Are So Undead | National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)". National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI). 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  7. ^ "Interview with Lisa Hunter and Alex Epstein about "You Are So Undead"". David "The hammer" Martel. 2011-06-20. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  8. ^ "Tartine". National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI). 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  9. ^ "The Circle Cast by Alex Epstein — book review". The British Fantasy Society. 2011-08-06. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  10. ^ "About Us". Compulsion Games. 2017-08-08. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  11. ^ Allen, Eric Van (8 December 2015). "Taking the road less travelled with Stories: Path of Destinies – GAMING TREND". gamingtrend.com. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  12. ^ "We Happy Few's dystopia is held together by drugs and denial". Engadget. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  13. ^ Valdes, Giancarlo (2018-06-22). "The Evolution of 'We Happy Few' From Survival Sim to Story-Driven Adventure". Variety. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  14. ^ Ramond, Charles-Henri (December 26, 2008). "Prix Jutra 2007: récapitulatif". Films du Québec (in French). Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  15. ^ "Nominations & Awards Archives | Canadian Comedy Awards". www.canadiancomedyawards.org. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  16. ^ "Artists - ALEX EPSTEIN - Omada". www.omada.ca. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  17. ^ "Governor General and QWF Literary Awards: the 2011 finalists - Hour Community". hour.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  18. ^ "Complications Ensue: The Crafty Game, TV and Screenwriting Blog". complicationsensue.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  19. ^ "Read Your Way To Success: The Best Screenwriting Blogs". Student Resources. 2014-06-03. Retrieved 2018-07-07.

External links[edit]

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