Ed Solomon

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Ed Solomon — Screenwriter

 
 

Ed Solomon became a professional writer at age 19 when he sold some jokes in the back room of The Comedy Store to comedian Jimmie Walker. He did it to impress a girl. By the time he was 21, while he 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 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, Ed 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.

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

 

 

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Selected Filmography

 
 
 
 

2017

Mosaic

writer

HBO / Mindsight Media

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Sharon Stone, Garrett Hedlund, Paul Reubens, Beau Bridges, Jennifer Ferrin

HBO Official Show Page

 
 

2016

Now You See Me 2

writer / producer

Lionsgate / Summit Entertainment

Director: Jon M. Chu

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Lizzy Caplan

 
 

2013

Now You See Me

writer / producer

Summit Entertainment

Director: louis Leterrier

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, isla fisher

 
 

2009

Imagine That

writer / producer

Paramount Pictures

Director: Karey Kirkpatrick

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Thomas Hayden Church

 
 

2003

Levity

writer / Director

StudioCanal / Sony Pictures Classics

Director: Ed Solomon

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman, Kirsten Dunst, Holly Hunter

 
 

2000

What Planet Are You From?

writer

Columbia Pictures

Director: Mike Nichols

Starring: Garry Shandling, Annette Bening, John Goodman

 
 

2000

Charlie's Angels

writer

StudioCanal / Sony Pictures Classics

Director: McG

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu

 
 

1997

Men in Black

writer

Columbia Pictures

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Fiorentino

 
 

1991

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Co-writer (with Chris matheson)

Orion Pictures

Director: Peter Hewitt

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin

 
 

1989

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Co-writer (with Chris matheson)

Orion Pictures

Director: Stephen Herek

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin

 
 

1987-1989

It's Garry Shandling's Show

writer

Showtime

Starring: Garry Shandling, Molly Cheek

 
 

1982-1983

Laverne & Shirley

writer

ABC

Starring: Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams