Alex Tse
Encyclopedia
Alex R. Tse is an American screenwriter who grew up in San Francisco and attended Emerson College
in Boston
. His first script to be produced was Sucker Free City
, a Showtime television movie
directed by Spike Lee
and released in 2004. Tse was a co-writer for the 2009 superhero film Watchmen
, directed by Zack Snyder
.
, was born in 1976 to his father, a banker, and his mother, a teacher. He grew up in Richmond District
in San Francisco. He went to Alamo Elementary School, Presidio Middle School
, and Lowell High School
in the area. When Tse was growing up, his parents were movie fans, and he was incidentally exposed to movies not appropriate for his age like Heavy Metal
, Prom Night, and Altered States
. His father's favorite film was The Godfather
, and the family would watch two films every Christmas, such as To Live and Die in L.A..
Tse attended Emerson College
in Boston
. When Tse was a first-year student at Emerson, he explored journalism
as a career by having a radio show and realized that it was not his aspiration. He saw Pulp Fiction
and was inspired by the film to pursue a screenwriting career. He described Pulp Fictions influence on him:
After Tse graduated from college, he moved to Los Angeles
in December 1998 to pursue a writing career. He worked for under three years producing rap videos and working part-time jobs for Miramax Films
and Walt Disney Pictures
. One of his first productions was the music video for the single "You Never Knew" from the album 3rd Eye Vision
by Hieroglyphics, and the video eventually aired on Yo! MTV Raps
. His work attracted the attention of other independent rappers, for whom he also produced videos. He was encouraged to begin temping
and found temp work at Disney, particularly under then-president Peter Schneider. Tse also learned more about screenwriting by reading scripts, with two noteworthy examples being the onomatopoeia in James Mangold
's script for Heavy
and the sarcasm in the narrative for Man on the Moon.
Sucker Free City
(2004), directed by Spike Lee
. For the film, Tse won a literary award from PEN Center USA
for best teleplay, and he was nominated for best screenplay (original or adapted) for the 2006 Black Reel Awards
. After Sucker Free City was released, Tse and Lee discussed the possibility of producing a feature film based on Tse's first script 87 Fleer. Tse developed a script for an untitled project for the singer Ashanti
. He also developed a script for a remake of Superfly
(1972) for Warner Bros. and Silver. Tse said that the remake "had nothing to do with the original" and that it evolved into a possible film titled Gangland.
After Sucker Free City, Tse performed uncredited production rewrites for such films as House of Wax
, Step Up
, and its sequel, Step Up 2: The Streets. Tse's major screenwriting debut came when he was a co-writer for the 2009 superhero film Watchmen
, which was directed by Zack Snyder
. He and fellow screenwriter David Hayter
were nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Writing
for Watchmen. Tse has expressed interest in working with Darren Aronofsky
, Martin Scorsese
, Steven Soderbergh
, Curtis Hanson
, and Danny Boyle
.
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. His first script to be produced was Sucker Free City
Sucker Free City
Sucker Free City is a 2004 film directed by Spike Lee. The film examines white, black, and Chinese characters in San Francisco and the conflicts they encounter with each other. The film was intended to be the pilot for a Showtime television series. Showtime declined to pick up the series...
, a Showtime television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
directed by Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
and released in 2004. Tse was a co-writer for the 2009 superhero film Watchmen
Watchmen (film)
Watchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder and starring Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. It is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons...
, directed by Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder
Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. After making his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, he gained wide recognition with the 2007 box office hit 300, adapted from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics...
.
Background
Alex Tse, a Chinese AmericanChinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
, was born in 1976 to his father, a banker, and his mother, a teacher. He grew up in Richmond District
Richmond District, San Francisco, California
The Richmond District is a neighborhood in the northwest corner of San Francisco, California.-Location:Lying directly north of Golden Gate Park, "the Richmond" is bounded roughly by Fulton Street to the south, Arguello Boulevard and Laurel Heights to the east, The Presidio National Park and Lincoln...
in San Francisco. He went to Alamo Elementary School, Presidio Middle School
Presidio Middle School
Presidio Middle School is a public school located in San Francisco's Richmond District, San Francisco, California neighborhood. The school is part of the San Francisco Unified School District....
, and Lowell High School
Lowell High School (San Francisco)
Lowell High School is a public magnet school in San Francisco, California. The school opened in 1856 as the Union Grammar School and attained its current name in 1896. Lowell moved to its current location in the Merced Manor neighborhood in 1962....
in the area. When Tse was growing up, his parents were movie fans, and he was incidentally exposed to movies not appropriate for his age like Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (film)
Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian fantasy-animated film directed by Gerald Potterton and produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine....
, Prom Night, and Altered States
Altered States
Altered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
. His father's favorite film was The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, and the family would watch two films every Christmas, such as To Live and Die in L.A..
Tse attended Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. When Tse was a first-year student at Emerson, he explored journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
as a career by having a radio show and realized that it was not his aspiration. He saw Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
and was inspired by the film to pursue a screenwriting career. He described Pulp Fictions influence on him:
I had never seen anything like it, in terms of narrative structure, characters, the character's point of view, all the pop culture references and humor. It seemed like it was coming from my own sensibility... though the world of Pulp Fiction is so fantastic and obviously not my world, it felt like these were characters who were speaking from the perspective of people in your world. And I don't know that a movie has done that since.
After Tse graduated from college, he moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in December 1998 to pursue a writing career. He worked for under three years producing rap videos and working part-time jobs for Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
and Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
. One of his first productions was the music video for the single "You Never Knew" from the album 3rd Eye Vision
3rd Eye Vision
3rd Eye Vision is the debut album of Oakland, California-based, underground hip hop collective, Hieroglyphics. The album was released on May 24, 1998 by the group's own, independent record label, Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings.- Track listing :...
by Hieroglyphics, and the video eventually aired on Yo! MTV Raps
Yo! MTV Raps
Yo! MTV Raps was a two-hour American television music video program, which ran from August 1988 to August 1995 through its original Yo! MTV Raps name and later by Yo! . The program was the first hip hop music show on the network, based on the original MTV Europe show, aired one year earlier. The U.S...
. His work attracted the attention of other independent rappers, for whom he also produced videos. He was encouraged to begin temping
Temporary work
Temporary work or temporary employment refers to a situation where the employee is expected to leave the employer within a certain period of time. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", "casual staff", "freelance", or "part-time"; or the word may be shortened...
and found temp work at Disney, particularly under then-president Peter Schneider. Tse also learned more about screenwriting by reading scripts, with two noteworthy examples being the onomatopoeia in James Mangold
James Mangold
James Allen Mangold is an American film director and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for Walk the Line which he co-wrote and directed.-Life and career:...
's script for Heavy
Heavy (film)
Heavy is a 1995 independent American drama film written and directed by James Mangold, and starring Liv Tyler, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Shelley Winters, and Deborah Harry...
and the sarcasm in the narrative for Man on the Moon.
Screenwriting career
After three years of small jobs, Tse sold to television-based Showtime a script called 87 Fleer, about four middle-class kids from the Richmond District. The company was impressed with his script and encouraged him to write a pilot about gangs. By June 2002, Tse submitted a first-story outline titled The Game for a potential television series. By the following September, the outline was developed into a full script that eventually became the Showtime television movieTelevision movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
Sucker Free City
Sucker Free City
Sucker Free City is a 2004 film directed by Spike Lee. The film examines white, black, and Chinese characters in San Francisco and the conflicts they encounter with each other. The film was intended to be the pilot for a Showtime television series. Showtime declined to pick up the series...
(2004), directed by Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
. For the film, Tse won a literary award from PEN Center USA
PEN Center USA
PEN Center USA, founded in 1943, is one of two PEN centers in the United States and 145 centers in the world. It was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1981...
for best teleplay, and he was nominated for best screenplay (original or adapted) for the 2006 Black Reel Awards
Black Reel Awards
The Black Reel Awards began in 2000 and were designed to annually recognize and celebrate the achievements of black people in feature, independent and television films...
. After Sucker Free City was released, Tse and Lee discussed the possibility of producing a feature film based on Tse's first script 87 Fleer. Tse developed a script for an untitled project for the singer Ashanti
Ashanti (singer)
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and model. She rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous debut album, which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release...
. He also developed a script for a remake of Superfly
Superfly (film)
Super Fly is a 1972 film directed by Gordon Parks, Jr., starring Ron O'Neal as Youngblood Priest, a black cocaine dealer who is trying to quit the underworld drug business....
(1972) for Warner Bros. and Silver. Tse said that the remake "had nothing to do with the original" and that it evolved into a possible film titled Gangland.
After Sucker Free City, Tse performed uncredited production rewrites for such films as House of Wax
House of Wax (2005 film)
House of Wax is a 2005 horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. It shares the name of a 1953 horror film, which was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum. It was released in theaters on May 6, 2005 to negative reviews, but a financial success...
, Step Up
Step Up (film)
Step Up is a 2006 American dance/romance film directed by Anne Fletcher starring Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan.Set in Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows the tale of the disadvantaged Tyler Gage and the privileged modern dancer Nora Clark , who find themselves paired up in a showcase that...
, and its sequel, Step Up 2: The Streets. Tse's major screenwriting debut came when he was a co-writer for the 2009 superhero film Watchmen
Watchmen (film)
Watchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder and starring Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. It is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons...
, which was directed by Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder
Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. After making his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, he gained wide recognition with the 2007 box office hit 300, adapted from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics...
. He and fellow screenwriter David Hayter
David Hayter
David Hayter is a Canadian-American voice and screen actor and screenwriter. He is best known for providing the English voices of Solid Snake and Big Boss in the Metal Gear video game series, and for writing the screenplay for X-Men and co-writing the screenplay for The Scorpion King and X2...
were nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Writing
Saturn Award for Best Writing
The following is a list of people who have won the Saturn Award for Best Writing.-Multiple Winners:*James Cameron - 3 awards*Christopher Nolan - 3 awards*William Peter Blatty - 3 awards-External links:* http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html#writing...
for Watchmen. Tse has expressed interest in working with Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
, Curtis Hanson
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson is an American film director, film producer and screenwriter. His directing work includes The Hand That Rocks the Cradle , L.A...
, and Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
.