Career

As a screenwriter Jon Spaihts became known in the film industry as a "go-to-guy for space thrillers" when his science fiction romance Passengers was included on the 2007 Black List

The Black List (survey)

The Black List is a survey published every year on the second Friday of December since 2004. The survey includes the top screenplays that went un-produced. The website claims that it is not necessarily "the best", but rather "the most liked", since it is voted on by studio and production company...

 of unproduced high-value screenplays. Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...

 had hired Spaihts to write the film after originally becoming attached to Spaihts' now abandoned science fiction script Shadow 19. After Reeves agreed to produce and star in Passengers, Spaihts was commissioned by Scott Free Productions to write the next installments in the Alien saga

Alien (franchise)

The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien"...

, two prequel films

Prequel

A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...

 to be directed by Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...

 for a release starting in 2011 or 2012.

Spaihts has rewritten the alien invasion thriller The Darkest Hour for New Regency Productions

New Regency Productions

New Regency Productions is a production company founded in 1991 by Arnon Milchan and a subsidiary of Regency Enterprises.It is located on the 20th Century Fox lot, and Fox is the current distributor of Regency releases since 1998, but is a wholly independent company. Warner Bros. Pictures was the...

 and worked on a film version of St. George and the Dragon for Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...

. As main screenwriter Spaihts is also attached to a Disney

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

 film project called Children of Mars.

Personal life

Jon Spaihts was born in Doylestown, PA. He is a 1991 alumnus of Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 and has written several books for The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review

The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...

. Spaihts lives and works in Venice, California

Venice, Los Angeles, California

Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors...

, and is married to actress Johanna Watts. He is a photographer.

Filmography

• Prometheus
  Prometheus (film)
  Prometheus is an upcoming science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba and Logan Marshall-Green. The film was originally intended as a direct prequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien...
  
  (2012)
• The Darkest Hour (Dec., 2011)
• Passengers (tba)
• St. George and the Dragon (tba)

External links

• Jon Spaihts' portfolio at photo.net