American New Wave 25: Kyle Killen

Veteran publicists will tell you, all press is good press. My hope is that when Summit Ent. does decide to release The Beaver that the certain distractions don’t overshadow someone’s official breakout party. Kyle Killen was probably an anonymous scribe looking to get his foot in the door, and in late 2008, that door was ripped from its hinges. Killen’s script about a man and his puppet hand was at the top the celebrated Black List of most liked unproduced screenplays. The script’s timeline would see A-listers Steve Carell and Jim Carrey attached to star and when Jodie Foster put Mel Gibson in driver’s seat, the film was fast tracked and Summit came on board during production (not after).

A USC Cinema Television Program grad who comes from a writing background, Killen received picked up the 2003 John Steinbeck Award For The Short Story and was working on his first novel, but the kind of above mentioned buzz probably reorganized his writing priorities as it landed him a whole another gig. Killen sold a pilot script to Fox, adorned the producer’s hat, got (500) Days of Summer’s Marc Webb to direct the first episode and Lone Star is programmed for this Fall. Not sure if there are any other non-studio dark comedies such as The Beaver in store, but I’m betting that we haven’t read the last of him.