Alum Dan Mazeau one of Variety's "10 to Watch"

MFA Screenwriting and Professional Certificate Film Programs alum Dan Mazeau describes as "crucial" the supportive, collaborative atmosphere fostered at UCLA by professors such as Richard Walter and Hal Ackerman, the sense of being surrounded by fellow writers and "learning that you are not alone." This provided the impetus Mazeau says he needed to continue his career struggle past its difficult early stages:

"Writing is a very private, isolating craft. It's enormously helpful to realize that everyone has the same fears — especially in a program that emphasizes mutual support and collaboration."

Mazeau knew he wanted a career in movies immediately after his initial viewing of Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" came to an end in 1993. And now, with several A-list assignments either completed or on his plate, Mazeau has been included by the trade paper “Daily Variety” on the 2008 edition of its list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch.

Like many writers before him, reports Michael Rose in Variety, Mazeau originally made a more practical career choice, graduating from UC Berkeley with high honors in physics. But he quickly realized that his childhood dreams were still alive and kicking.

Mazeau joined the UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting in 2004 and there wrote “The Land of Lost Things,” a family fantasy epic, which he described to Variety as the story of “a kid who’s always losing things, and his parents’ marriage is in trouble. Then he discovers a magical universe, where everything we lose ends up, kind of like Oz. While he’s there, he tries to save their relationship.” The script won both the Professional Program contest and the Nate Wilson Joie de Vivre Award at UCLA, shortly before Mazeau moved on to the MFA Screenwriting program.

Mazeau finished the script in 2006 [reports “Variety”] and began shopping it around through the few contacts he had in the business. The response was immediate: Before long, the script was set up at Nickelodeon/ Paramount, with Arnold Kopelson producing. [Kopelson teaches in the UCLA Producers Program.]

Since then, Mazeau has been in high demand. His first gig for hire was adapting “The Adventures of Jonny Quest,” the Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960s, for Warner Bros.

Mazeau says it was UCLA that enabled him to make the leap from lab to laptop:

"Coming from a science background," he says, "I can truthfully say that UCLA taught me how to actually become a screenwriter, how to go from just wanting to be one to actually starting down the road. The mentorship of professors such as Paul Chitlik and Neil Landau, and of course Richard and Hal, was enormously important."

Mazeau's script for "Sirens" was a winner in the Screenwriters Showcase competition at the School's Festival of New Creative Work in 2006. According to the plot synopsis he wrote at the time for the Festival's Creative Directory "Sirens" was about a treasure-packed uncharted island guarded by "monstrous seductresses who lure men to their doom."

Variety goes on to report:

“Mazeau’s current gig is rewriting an untitled moon project for DreamWorks. Based on an original script by director Doug Liman, pic tells the story of [two brilliant, reckless entrepreneurs mounting the first private mission to the moon]. Simon Kinberg and Alli Shearmur are producing, and Jake Gyllenhaal is attached to star.”

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Keywords

"dan mazeau" "jonny quest" "richard walter" "hal ackerman" "paul chitlik" "neil landau" "land of lost things" "arnold kopelson" "jurassic park" "screenwriting mfa" "professional program in screenwriting" 

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