Gregory Widen is an American screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

 and film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

.

A student in UCLA's screenwriting program, he sold his script for Highlander

Highlander (film)

Highlander is a 1986 fantasy action film directed by Russell Mulcahy and based on a story by Gregory Widen. It stars Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, and Roxanne Hart. The film depicts the climax of an ages-old battle between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and...

while still an undergraduate. Before entering the UCLA program, Widen attended Saddleback College

Saddleback College

The athletic programs are supported in part by the Associated Student Body at Saddleback College. Revenue generated from attendance at athletic events helps support the entire student activities program.-On-campus media outlets:*The Lariat...

 in Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo, California

Mission Viejo is a city located in southern Orange County, California, U.S. in the Saddleback Valley. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest master-planned communities ever built under a single project in the United States, and is rivaled only by Highlands Ranch, Colorado, in its size...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Widen worked as a firefighter

Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...

 for three years. He witnessed a person killed by an explosive backdraft

Backdraft

A backdraft is an explosive event at a fire resulting from rapid re-introduction of oxygen to combustion in an oxygen-starved environment, for example, the breaking of a window or opening of a door to an enclosed space. Backdrafts present a serious threat to firefighters, even those with a high...

, which became the basis for the screenplay for the movie Backdraft

Backdraft (film)

Backdraft is a 1991 action thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. The film stars Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, and Robert De Niro. Jason Gedrick and J. T. Walsh co-star in the film...

.

In 1995 he wrote and directed the supernatural thriller The Prophecy

The Prophecy

The Prophecy is a 1995 fantasy horror-thriller film starring Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. It was written and directed by Gregory Widen, and is the first motion picture of The Prophecy series including four sequels...

starring Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...

.

Credits

• Highlander
  Highlander (film)
  Highlander is a 1986 fantasy action film directed by Russell Mulcahy and based on a story by Gregory Widen. It stars Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, and Roxanne Hart. The film depicts the climax of an ages-old battle between immortal warriors, depicted through interwoven past and...
  
  (1986) writer
  • Also given credit for "characters" in various sequels
• Weekend War
  Weekend war
  Weekend War is a television movie starring Daniel Stern and Stephen Collins that premiered on the ABC network on Monday February 1, 1988. It is directed by Steven Hilliard Stern and written by brothers Dennis and Steven Hackin...
  
  (1988) teleplay writer, co-producer
• Backdraft
  Backdraft (film)
  Backdraft is a 1991 action thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. The film stars Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, and Robert De Niro. Jason Gedrick and J. T. Walsh co-star in the film...
  
  (1991) writer, cameo as "Engine Lieutenant"
• Space Rangers (1993) writer
• Tales from the Crypt
  Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
  Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...
  
  : "Half-Way Horrible" (1993) teleplay writer, director
• The Prophecy
  The Prophecy
  The Prophecy is a 1995 fantasy horror-thriller film starring Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. It was written and directed by Gregory Widen, and is the first motion picture of The Prophecy series including four sequels...
  
  (1995) writer, director
  • The Prophecy II
    The Prophecy II
    The Prophecy II is a fantasy horror-thriller film and the second motion picture in The Prophecy series. Christopher Walken and Steve Hytner reprise their roles as the Archangel Gabriel and the coroner Joseph, respectively.-Plot:...
    
    (1998) executive producer
  • Also given credit for "characters" in various sequels
• Rescue 77
  Rescue 77
  Rescue 77 is an American television series about the professional and personal lives of paramedics in Los Angeles, California. The show aired in the spring of 1999 on Monday nights on the WB network....
  
  (1999) creator, writer, executive producer
• Green Sails (2000) writer, co-executive producer

External links