Steven E. de Souza

Steven E. de Souza (born November 17, 1947) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television[1] widely known for writing blockbuster action films[2] like Commando, Die Hard, and Judge Dredd. He is among a handful of screenwriters whose films have earned over US$2 billion at the worldwide box office.

Steven E. de Souza
Born	November 17, 1947 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Screenwriter, director, producer
Notable work	Commando Die Hard Judge Dredd
Awards	Nominated for: Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture

Life and career

De Souza was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Evelyn (Green) and H. Walton Henriques de Souza, who owned a real estate company.[3][4] He attended Pennsylvania State University, where he was a student of science fiction author Philip Klass (better known by his pseudonym William Tenn).[5] He began his career as a story editor for primetime television series such as The Six Million Dollar Man and The Hardy Boys Mysteries, before graduating to the role of producer and writer. He produced the first season of Knight Rider, and was the creator of the short-lived sci-fi series The Powers of Matthew Star.

De Souza started his film career writing, directing, and producing the low-budget stoner comedy Arnold's Wrecking Co., which won the Special Jury Prize at the 1972 Atlanta Film Festival.[6] Beginning in the early 1980s, he became a prolific screenwriter of feature films, specializing in blockbuster action and thriller films like Commando and Die Hard. He wrote some of the most successful films of the era, including 48 Hrs., The Running Man,[7] The Flintstones, and Die Hard 2.[8] He was frequently hired by studios as a script doctor in order to rewrite preexisting screenplays during production to add more action and humor. He has been nominated twice for the Edgar Allan Poe award, an award given to any piece of media for excellence in mystery writing. The first in 1984 for 48 Hrs. and again in 1989 for Die Hard. De Souza also "won" the 1991 Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay for Hudson Hawk. He wrote and directed the 1994 video game adaptation Street Fighter after being introduced to the franchise by his son.[9] Though the film received negative critical reception and failed to spawn an intended franchise, it has since become a cult classic in some circles.

In 2000, he was honored with the Norman Lear Award for Lifetime Achievement in writing. In 2004, he received the Dr. Bird award, which is given for achievement in the arts to people of Jamaican descent.[10] De Souza appeared in the feature-length documentary Dreams on Spec, which profiled three aspiring screenwriters and featured comments from a number of distinguished writers like James L. Brooks, Nora Ephron, Carrie Fisher, and him. His Web series Unknown Sender became a triple honoree at the 2009 Webby Awards for Best Writing,[11] Best Dramatic Series,[12] and Best Individual Performance.[13]

In 2011, he teamed with Family Guy director Pete Michels for the Fox Network animated pilot "Spyburbia."[14]

De Souza has also written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Premiere, Empire magazine, Buzz, and Fade In. Recently, he was responsible for the critically acclaimed graphic novel re-boot of Will Eisner's classic comic character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Notes	Dir.
1973	Arnold's Wrecking Co.	Also director
1982	48 Hrs.	with Roger Spottiswoode, Larry Gross & Walter Hill	Walter Hill
1983	The Return of Captain Invincible	with Peter Smalley & Andrew Gaty	Philippe Mora
1985	Commando	with Jeph Loeb & Matthew Weisman	Mark L. Lester
1986	Jumpin' Jack Flash	Uncredited; with David Franzoni, Charles Shyer, Nancy Meyers & Chris Thompson	Penny Marshall
1987	The Running Man		Paul Michael Glaser
1988	Bad Dreams	with Andrew Fleming, Michael Dick, P.J. Pettiette & Yuri Zeltser	Andrew Fleming
	Die Hard	with Jeb Stuart	John McTiernan
1990	Die Hard 2	with Doug Richardson	Renny Harlin
1991	Hudson Hawk	with Daniel Waters, Robert Kraft & Bruce Willis	Michael Lehmann
	Ricochet	with Fred Dekker & Menno Meyjes	Russell Mulcahy
1994	The Flintstones	with Tom S. Parker & Jim Jennewein	Brian Levant
	Beverly Hills Cop III		John Landis
	Street Fighter	Also director
1995	Judge Dredd	with Michael De Luca & William Wisher Jr.	Danny Cannon
1997	Turbulence	Uncredited; with Jonathan Brett	Robert Butler
1998	Knock Off		Tsui Hark
2003	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life	with James V. Hart & Dean Georgaris	Jan de Bont
2004	Blast		Anthony Hickox

Television

Year	Title	Notes
1974-77	The Six Million Dollar Man	Story editor Writer - 3 episodes
1976	Gemini Man	Story editor - 9 episodes Writer - 3 episodes
1977	Rosetti and Ryan	Story editor - 7 episodes Writer - 1 episode
1977-79	The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries	Story editor - 18 episodes Writer - 2 episodes
1978	The Bionic Woman	Writer - 2 episodes
	Lucan	Writer - 1 episode
1981	Foul Play	Executive story consultant - 6 episodes Writer - 2 episodes
1982	The Renegades	Television film
1982-83	The Powers of Matthew Star	Creator
	Knight Rider	Producer - 20 episodes
1984	V	Writer - 1 episode Supervising producer - 2 episodes
1987	The Spirit	Television film Supervising producer
1988	Supercarrier	Creator Executive producer
1991	Tales from the Crypt	Writer/director - 1 episode
	K-9000	Television film Writer/producer
1993-94	Cadillacs and Dinosaurs	Creator Executive producer
2002-03	Adventure Inc.	Executive producer
2008-12	Unknown Sender	Creator Writer - 7 episodes Director - 7 episodes Executive producer

Awards and nominations

Won

• 1973 Atlanta Film Festival Gold Medal Award: Arnold's Wrecking Co.
• 1991 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay: Hudson Hawk (with Daniel Waters, Robert Kraft, Bruce Willis)
• 2000 Norman Lear Award for Lifetime Achievement

Nomination

• 1983 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture: 48 Hrs. (with Roger Spottiswoode, Walter Hill, Larry Gross)
• 1989 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture: Die Hard (with Jeb Stuart)

References

1. "Steven E. de Souza on Earwolf". www.earwolf.com. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
2. "Steven E. de Souza Writes the Most Explosive Hits". EW.com. July 15, 1994. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
3. "Steven E. de Souza Biography (1948?-)". filmreference.com. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
4. "H. Walton Henriques De Souza - tribunedigital-mcall". The Morning Call. November 19, 1996. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
5. amazon (May 9, 1920). "Remembering Golden Age Science Fiction Author William Tenn". Io9.com. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
6. "Arnold's Wrecking Co." Boxoffice Magazine. January 7, 1974.
7. "Interview: THE RUNNING MAN Writer Steven E. de Souza on Living in the Future of 1987". ScreenAnarchy. February 28, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
8. "Street Fighter: The Movie — What went wrong | Polygon". polygon.com. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
9. "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW (PART 1): Steven E. DeSouza (writer/director of STREET FIGHTER)". Bristol Bad Film Club. March 19, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
10. "Tomb Raider Chronicles - DE SOUZA SCORES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT". tombraiderchronicles.com. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
11. "Best Writing | 2009 | The Webby Awards Gallery + Archive". webbyawards.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
12. "Drama: Series | 2009 | The Webby Awards Gallery + Archive". webbyawards.com. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
13. "Best Individual Performance | 2009 | The Webby Awards Gallery + Archive". webbyawards.com. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
14. Andreeva, Nellie. "Kids Series Producer Cookie Jar Expands into Primetime With Development Slate". Deadline.

External links

• Steven E. de Souza at IMDb
• Short internet series