Eric Heisserer

Eric Heisserer was an American screenwriter who earned his first Oscar nomination in 2017 for writing the screenplay to the acclaimed science-fiction film "Arrival" (2016). Although Heisserer never intended on making his living as a screenwriter, you might say that a professional writing career was in his blood. His mother worked as an editor for a publishing company, while his father worked as a writer and professor of ancient history. For Eric Heisserer, however, his introduction into the writing world came when he took a position writing narratives for video games. Heisserer worked in the video games industry for a number of years, and mostly enjoyed the work. However, on one such occasion he turned in a video game script that was rejected on account of that fact that it was, as Heisserer later recalled, "too linear, like a movie." This initial rejection was the impetus that launched Heisserer into the world of screenwriting. Admittedly, his first few screenplays were awful, but the more he honed his craft, the better the writing became. He sold his first script to Warner Bros. in 2005, and had his first screenplay produced in 2010 with "A Nightmare on Elm Street" - a reboot of the classic 80s horror film. Heisserer had two more screenplays produced the following year with "Final Destination 5" (2011) and "The Thing" (2011), both of which were horror films. Heisserer made his directorial debut in 2013 with "Hours," which he also wrote. The film was notable for being released shortly after the tragic death of its star Paul Walker. For his next big writing project Heisserer was asked to adapt a shorty story called "Story of Your Life" written by the acclaimed science-fiction writer Ted Chiang. After working on multiple versions of the script, which was renamed to "Arrival," the film premiered to rave reviews in November of 2016. Heisserer's script was primarily singled out by critics for its high level of depth and craftsmanship. As a result, when Oscar nominations were announced in early 2017, Heisserer received a nod for his "Arrival" screenplay, while the film received eight Academy Award nominations in total. It was Heisserer's first Oscar nomination.