Marc Norman American screenwriter Date of Birth: 10.02.1941 Country: USA

1. Biography of Mark Norman
2. Early Career
3. Struggles and Success

Biography of Mark Norman

Mark Norman is an American screenwriter who began his career working on the project 'Movie of the Week' created by the ABC channel in the late 1960s and became popular in the early 1970s. Twice a week, the channel dedicated ninety minutes to showing original dramas, comedies, and thrillers. Born in Los Angeles, California, Norman started his career as a screenwriter on the 'Movie of the Week' project.

Early Career

After working on the 'Movie of the Week' project, Norman wrote the screenplay for the film 'Challenge' in 1970, an allegorical movie about the war between the United States and an unnamed Asian country where only one representative from each side fights. He also wrote the screenplay for the thriller 'Five Desperate Women', which depicts a group of friends who are forced to confront escapees from a local psychiatric hospital. Norman made his debut on the big screen in 1973 by writing the screenplay for the film 'Oklahoma Crude'. In the same year, he turned his own creation into a standalone book. He then worked on the romance film 'Zandy's Bride' starring Liv Ullmann and Gene Hackman. Following this, Norman wrote the screenplays for two action films, 'Breakout' starring Charles Bronson and 'The Killer Elite' starring James Caan.

Struggles and Success

For the next ten years, Norman faced a series of failures as none of his screenplays were produced. His streak of bad luck ended in 1985 when the film adaptation of the novel 'Aviator', based on Norman's screenplay, was released. However, the film earned little money and received mixed reviews. After this, Norman returned to television. In 1989, his son Zachary, a college student at the time, proposed an idea for a screenplay about Shakespeare and the Elizabethan theater. Intrigued, Norman didn't take any action on the idea for some time until one day he wrote the entire screenplay. After consulting with his neighbor, director and producer Edward Zwick, he pitched the idea for the film 'Shakespeare in Love' to interested parties. Although the screenplay attracted attention, it was ultimately given to writer Tom Stoppard for slight revisions. The film was delayed for a long time but was finally released in 1998. Although Norman gained attention, most of the recognition went to his co-writer Stoppard. During the process of working on the film, Norman also managed to write the screenplay for the pirate action film 'Cutthroat Island'.