New York City – Writers Guild of America, East today announced that versatile screenwriter and director David Koepp will be the recipient of the Ian McClellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement. The award, established in 1992, honors a WGA member for his/her body of work as a writer in motion pictures or television, and will be presented during the 65th Annual Writers Guild Awards, at B.B. King Blues Club in New York City on Sunday, February 17, 2013.
“For the past 25 years, David Koepp has written an extraordinary variety of movies that have thrilled audiences around the world – whether the exploits of Indiana Jones, the terror of genetically engineered dinosaurs at Jurassic Park or the derring-do of the Mission: Impossible team. But more than those adventures, David has given us tales of character and emotion that capture and lift the human spirit. He is a consummate storyteller and for that reason the Writers Guild of America, East is thrilled to present him its Ian McClellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement,” said Michael Winship, President, WGAE.
“I’m honored and very grateful to the WGAE. To be mentioned in the same breath with the other people who’ve received the Hunter award gives me something to live up to — it’s a humbling and compelling reason to keep typing. Now begins the terrifying process of trying to think of a clever way to say thank you in front of a roomful of 500 writers,” said Koepp.
During his more than two decades writing for film, Koepp continues to demonstrate a tremendous versatility, moving seamlessly from Hollywood blockbuster action films such as Spiderman, Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible to iconic thrillers such as Carlito’s Way and Panic Room.
Koepp’s singular and boundless list of genre-spanning films include Angels & Demons, Death Becomes Her, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Paper, War of the Worlds and as a writer/director, the horror film Stir of Echoes, the comedy Ghost Town, and the action film Premium Rush.
Fellow screenwriter Scott Frank, best known for Minority Report, Get Shorty, and Out of Sight, will present the award.
The Hunter Award was named in memory of longtime WGAE member Ian McClellan Hunter, whose more than 20 screen credits include Eye Witness and A Woman of Distinction. Harassed by the blacklist in the 1950s, Hunter went on to write several successful television series under a pseudonym and then reemerged as a writer on many television projects, including The Blue and The Gray.
Past recipients of the Hunter award include Robert Benton, Walter Bernstein, Marshall Brickman, Horton Foote, Nora Ephron, Frank Gilroy, Ring Lardner Jr., Jules Pfeiffer, John Sayles, and John Patrick Shanley.
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