Alumnus writes and produces A-List Hollywood films

December 19, 2018 — by Krithi Sankar

Alumnus Ed Solomon writes and produces A-List Hollywood films including "Men In Black" and "Charlie's Angels."

Name: Ed Solomon

Age: 58

Education: Saratoga High School (Class of 1976), B.A. in Economics, University of California Los Angeles (Class of 1980)

Occupation: screenwriter, producer

Notable previous positions: co-writer for “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure;” writer for “Men In Black,” and “Charlie’s Angels;” writer/producer of “Now You See Me”

As a high school student, class of 1976 alumnus Ed Solomon considered himself “very insecure.” However, Solomon grew to love theatre in his sophomore year of high school.

While Solomon  was still a student at UCLA, he was a staff writer on the ABC sitcom Laverne and Shirley — the youngest person at the time in the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA).

After graduating UCLA with a degree in economics, he went on to become a staff writer and producer on Showtime’s It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, an early cable hit that was often experimental and groundbreaking in its approach to television comedy.

With writing partner Chris Matheson, he developed the characters Bill & Ted, first as an improve sketch and then in the film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The film put them on the map as studio feature screenwriters. The worldwide hit generated a sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, and the characters became so identified with the actors that Keanu Reeves has said, “When I die, my tombstone will read, ‘Here lies Ted.’” The third Bill & Ted movie, “Bill & Ted Face the Music” is in development with a script by Matheson & Solomon and Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter set to reprise their roles.

As a solo screenwriter, Solomon entered the A-List with the script for the first Men in Black, setting his signature style of visually innovative, intelligent, character-based comedy.

In 2016, after decades writing mega-budget studio science fiction, action and comedy, Solomon turned to drama, teaming with director Steven Soderbergh and HBO for the original interactive long-form branching narrative Mosaic, starring Sharon Stone, which will be released first as an app in November 2017, and then as a limited-run series on HBO in January 2018.

Solomon is currently writing a second project in the branching narrative format for producers Steven Soderbergh and Casey Silver.

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